Get Ready to Fight
by Harry Ashhworth Black
Summary: It is Harry's 6th year and he is fed up of manipulations, half-truths, arrogant teachers and Voldy's death munchers. This story features a rebellious, belligerent, headstrong, dark, powerful Harry who won't take any nonsense from anyone, and who won't rest in peace until Voldemort and his deatheaters are eliminated. AU story. Harry/Daphne pairing. Snape and Dumbledore bashing.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer****: I don't own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and I don't intend to earn any profit out of this story.**

**Author's Note****: Hi everyone. This is my new story. Hope everyone likes it. It starts during Harry's 6****th**** year, after Harry cursed Malfoy using sectumsempra. The story is AU and has an abrupt beginning but more facts will be explained as the story progresses. It features a rebellious, belligerent, disobedient, independent Harry who won't take any shit from anyone.**

"No" said Harry.

"What did you say Potter?" whispered Snape dangerously.

"I said that I will not do detentions with you every Saturday. It was Malfoy's fault. He started cursing me first. He even tried to use the cruciatus on me. Why is he not being punished for it? Well, I am not really surprised. After all, you have never been fair to me for nearly 5 years" said Harry simply.

"Potter, you impudent, attention seeking brat. You are as arrogant as your father. That will be an extra 50 points from Gryffindor. If you refuse to do detentions with me, I will take up the matter with the headmaster. Hopefully, he will finally realize what a determined rule-breaker you are and expel you" snarled Snape.

Harry simply laughed at Snape making him grow redder in the face due to anger.

"Feel free to whine to Dumbledore Snivellus. You can take a 1000 points from Gryffindor if you wish, but I will not attend detentions with a biased, good for nothing deatheater like you. My father was a much much better human being than you will ever be. As far as expelling me is concerned, I have broken at least 100 Hogwarts rules over the past 5 years. Still, I haven't been expelled yet. So, what makes you think that Dumbledore will expel me this time?" taunted Harry.

Snape's blood boiled. Without caring for the consequences, he raised his wand at Harry.

"Why you little shit…" started Snape, but he was interrupted from behind.

"Severus, lower your wand" warned Dumbledore, in a thunderous voice.

Snape lowered his wand, but he was not finished yet.

"Headmaster, but this impudent boy is refusing to do detentions with me" snarled Snape.

Dumbledore looked at Harry searchingly with a penetrating gaze.

"Is this true Harry?" asked Dumbledore quietly.

"Yes, Snape is correct Professor. I refuse to do detentions with such a biased, lousy, good –for- nothing- but- sarcasm deatheater who insults and belittles me at every turn just because he had a petty grudge against my father. This man has harassed me, mind-raped me in the guise of occlumency, tried to get my late innocent godfather kissed by the dementors, called my mom a mudblood and done so many cruel things when he was a deatheater. He kisses the hem of that pathetic, half-blooded dork lord and you expect me to sit quietly and attend his detention. No way!" exclaimed Harry.

Snape snarled and was about to curse Harry when Dumbledore stopped him. Dumbledore looked at Harry with a thunderous expression on his face and his blue eyes glowed with an unrestrained energy that would have made any ordinary person cower. But Harry, who was not even remotely afraid of facing a basilisk, looked back defiantly at Dumbledore straight in the eye without blinking.

"Harry, Severus has my full trust and he is no more a deatheater than I am. He takes great personal risks to spy for the order and brings us very valuable information. I will not tolerate you insulting him like that. Also, he is your professor and deserves your respect. If he tells you to do detentions with him, then you have to do it" thundered Dumbledore fiercely.

Harry snorted. "Oh please, a professor is someone who patiently teaches and explains a topic well, who motivates the students to perform exceedingly well, who doesn't show any sort of partiality towards a select group of students and who has an outstanding sense of empathy towards those who are unable to succeed & is willing to share responsibility for the students failure. But this greasy bastard fulfills none of the above mentioned criteria. Therefore, he deserves absolutely no respect from me, because respect is something which is earned, not demanded.

While he may be a good spy and does a lot of hardwork in bringing valuable information for the order, that doesn't give him the excuse to needlessly harass the students, especially me. It was entirely his fault that he joined Voldemort in the first place. Nobody forced him to join that dark wanker. Had he not joined that murdering psychopathic maniac, he wouldn't have had to work as a double agent now.

So, my final word is that I won't do the detention. You can deduct as many points from me as you want, twinkle your bloody eyes hundreds of times or give me your patented disappointed grandpa look in trying to guilt trip me. My stance won't change" said Harry stubbornly.

Snape was fuming with froth in his mouth, literally. The arrogant brat was openly insulting him and that too in front of the headmaster, and he was unable to do anything about it. One day, he would make the brat dearly pay for this.

"Harry, if you don't apologize to Severus now and do double the number of detentions assigned to you, I am afraid I have to expel you and have your wand snapped. Are you willing to take that risk Harry?" asked Dumbledore sternly.

Instead of being afraid, Harry openly smirked challengingly at Dumbledore and replied.

"Oh my dear Albus, you are quite free to expel me. But just think about this. Who will fulfill the prophecy when I am sent away with my wand snapped? Whom will you find that has the power which the dark lord knows not? And what will the wizarding Britain say when they find out that the boy who lived left Hogwarts all because the ex-deatheater Severus Snape tortured the boy endlessly with the permission of the esteemed Albus Dumbledore? And, please don't think that if you expel me, I will stay quietly at Private drive. I will leave private drive making the blood protections fail. That will leave my so-called relatives at the mercy of the deatheaters and Voldemort. Are you sure this is what you prefer Headmaster?" asked Harry, staring challengingly at Dumbledore with his emerald green eyes glowing with power.

Dumbledore paled on hearing Harry's implied threats. He was truly in a fix now. Harry had the upper hand over him. There was nothing that he could do to stop the boy. This was not something that he had expected from Harry. He had been training Harry to be a martyr who listened submissively to him and who was willing to sacrifice himself to bring down Voldemort. But now the boy was totally dead set against him. How could this happen?

Harry smiled at both his professors.

"So, from seeing your slacked jaws, I am sure that you won't even think of expelling me from Hogwarts. See Snape, even Dumbledore won't simply expel me just like that. He knows that I am too valuable for him just as you are. So, see you professors. Have a great day" said Harry and darted towards the Gryffindor common room in high spirits, leaving behind two slack-jawed professors who didn't know what to do.

While he was walking along the corridors, he was suddenly pulled into a nearby broom closet, and somebody shouted "BOOM" near his eyes, making him wince with pain. Thinking that somebody was trying to abduct him, he raised his wand and looked up only to see the smiling face of a violet-eyed, blond beauty in a Slytherin uniform.

"Damn it Daph, you nearly scared me to death" said Harry irritably, but with a hint of a smile on his face.

She laughed without reservation. Her laughter made his insides squirm with pleasure.

"Oh Potter, you look pretty sweet when you pout like that. That expression is just priceless" said Daphne Greengrass smiling at him.

Slowly, a reluctant grin crept up in Harry's face and he too started laughing along with her.

When both of them sobered up after some time, Daphne's expression suddenly became serious and she asked him, "How did the meeting with Snape go Harry?"

"Well, it started as usual with Snape badmouthing my dad and demanding that I serve detention with him for cursing Draco. I naturally refused which made him angry. He deducted points from me as if I cared, took the matter to Dumbledore but it made no difference to my stance. I even got the pleasure of blackmailing Dumbledore" said Harry smirking.

"Wow Harry, I am just so impressed. Resorting to Blackmailing Potter? I never expected this from the Gryffindor golden boy" said Daphne smirking.

"And I never expected the Slytherin's famous Ice Queen to smile and laugh. But you have been doing both these for quite some I have no complaints. You look really gorgeous when you laugh" said Harry smirking back.

A small blush appeared on Daphne's face before she schooled her features back to normal.

"Flirting won't get you anywhere Potter" said Daphne menancingly, but without any real malice. "Now, just be a man and get ready to face your curious housemates" said Daphne.

"Aww, so you aren't going to miss me Daph. I am soo hurt. At least, give me a flying kiss" said Harry, to which Daphne swatted him.

"Prat, find a way to get rid of Malfoy and I will kiss you. I promise. Now just go away before your housemates start searching for you" said Daphne.

"Fine Daph. Bye" said Harry.

"Bye Harry" said Daphne smiling back.

Both of them started walking back to their respective common rooms without looking back.

Harry soon reached the Gryffindor common room and was immediately assaulted by questions from Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, we heard that you badly cursed Malfoy and ended up in detention with Snape. Is it true?" asked Hermione.

"It is true that I cursed Malfoy badly using the Sectumsempra curse but I did not end up in detention with Snape" said Harry.

"Wow Harry, you're so lucky" said Ron, with a slight hint of jealousy on his face.

"Thank you Ron" said Harry smiling at his friend before turning to Hermione.

"Harry, how could you simply curse Malfoy like that? I know that he is a git, but you can't simply start cursing him just because you have some ridiculous notion that he is a deatheater now. You should have been given detention for attacking a student. You used one of those nasty spells from that stupid prince book, right?" asked Hermione accusingly in her annoying bossy voice.

Harry's expression grew grim as he looked at Hermione.

"Yes, I used one of the spells from that prince book Hermione. I admit that it was wrong of me to simply try out a spell meant for enemies just like that. But that book is not stupid, just because I performed better than you in potions with its help. Malfoy is most probably a deatheater, whether you believe it or not and I am going to get to the bottom of it. Even if we assume that he isn't a deatheater, he is still a bully who harasses anone who is not a pureblood.

And for your information, he started attacking me first and even tried using the cruciatus . So, I don't feel any regret in cursing him back. After all, he was responsible for the near deaths of Katie Bell and Ron Weasley" said Harry staring back at Hermione determinedly.

Ron tried to diffuse the situation at that moment.

"Come one Hermione, it is Malfoy. You know how much he has harassed us over the past 5 years. While I don't believe Harry's claims of him being a deatheater, there is no doubt that he is still a bully. And, don't you remember punching him in our 3rd year when he insulted Hagrid. So, now Harry just punched him magically, that's it" said Ron, while chewing on a piece of treacle tart.

"I know that Malfoy is a bully Ron, but what Harry did is also not correct. Harry, please listen to me. Whoever wrote that prince book is definitely a dodgy person. I know that you won't admit it, but you have been cheating in potions throughout this year. Otherwise, how could you score better than me? Just surrender that book to a teacher and start following the official instructions as you should" said Hermione.

"I am sorry, but I won't do that Hermione. Following a different set of instructions does not constitute cheating, it is called improvisation. It is only due to improvisation that so many new potions were invented in the past, including the wolfsbane. That book has helped me so much and I am not just going to give that away.

And, I don't understand what your problem is. Is it because you can't stand scoring lesser than me? I am quite disappointed Hermione. I never expected you to be that jealous of me. I offered to share the book with both of you, but it is not my fault that you refused my offer. I am going to say this only once. Please don't nag me about the half blood prince book ever again. Or else, I will stop speaking to you" said Harry with determination.

Hermione looked on the verge of tears after hearing Harry's sppech but finally nodded her head at Harry and walked away.

After Hermione walked away, Ron turned to Harry.

"Mate, you were too harsh on mione. She definitely deserve that long lecture from you" said Ron a bit angrily.

Harry sighed tiredly, guilt bubbling in his stomach.

"Ron, I know that I was too harsh on Hermione. She has helped me so much and I love her like a sister. But she needs to respect my individuality and understand that she can't control me. I needed to say these things Ron for her good. Hopefully she would understand the reasoning behind my words soon" said Harry tiredly.

Ron nodded at him. He didn't like what Harry said but understood Harry's intentions. At least, Harry considered Hermione as a sister and not as a potential girl friend. That single fact relieved him more than anything else

They then proceeded to play chess for some time where Ron defeated him quite mercilessly, before Harry went to take a nap.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Hope everyone liked it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hi everyone. This is my second chapter. Hope everyone likes it. **

Daphne entered her dormitory and gently laid down on her bed. It had been a long day. Her dorm-mates were already asleep. But try as she could, she could not get any sleep at all. Her mind kept drifting back to the messy haired boy with beautiful emerald eyes, the sweet boy who had changed her life forever.

She began thinking about that day nearly three months ago, when she had first met him.

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**Flashback**

**24****th**** December, 1996: Somewhere 50 km from London: At 3 AM in the morning**

Daphne was running away from her pursuers as fast as her legs could sustain. But, they were too persistent to let her go away.

"Come back, you wretched bitch" growled a rough voice from behind.

But she didn't dare turn her back. She kept on running through the forest dodging stray stunners and bone breaking curses from behind.

She randomly kept on sending curses behind her but to no avail. Those men were so intent on pursuing her. She screamed loudly as one of the curses hit her left hand which shattered her bones badly.

Eventually, she reached the dead end beyond which she couldn't run further since there was a huge lake which impeded her way.

At that moment, panic got over her. She didn't know how to swim, she didn't know apparition, and she didn't have any portkeys with her.

Suddenly, she felt the wand being ripped from her hand and felt a choking sensation as a man pressed her throat with his bare hands. He was flanked by two thuggish brutes who were leering at her.

"Greengrass, do you think you could escape us for long? Nah, we won't let you out from our hands. You are a fool for believing that you could refuse from taking the dark mark and escape from our clutches. Now, the Dark Lord will surely punish you badly. May be, he might give you to me as a reward for catching hold of you. Then, we can spend hours of time playing with each other. What do you say lady?" asked Rowle, leering maliciously at her while his 2 thugs burst into chuckles.

Daphne felt hot tears prickle down from her eyes. She was truly trapped now. There was nothing she could do now to escape from these deatheaters, who were no doubt planning to indulge in sickening violations against her body. That would be even worse than a cruciatus from the Dark Lord. She prayed to whichever deity was listening that she could somehow escape from this situation.

Suddenly, there was the roaring sound of a motorcycle from behind the deatheaters. Rowle who was gripping Daphne's throat turned around only to see a two well-built men emerge from the huge motorcycle. Their faces were not clearly visible in the dark but the shorter one of them had distinct emerald green eyes which glowed even in the dark.

"Release her, you filthy deatheater scum" barked the longer person, who had a distinct dog-like voice.

"Who the hell are you people? And, how dare you address us in such a disrespectful way" shouted Rowle raising his wand. His action was mirrored by his 2 thugs.

Daphne desperately wanted to make use of this opportunity to escape but she didn't have her wand, and the running had made her extremely tired.

"Respect?" said the shorter person laughing "Respect what exactly? The fact that you are harassing a young defenceless woman and talking about abducting and raping her or the fact that you don't care about slaughtering so many innocent citizens in the name of blood purity or the fact that you kiss the ass of the filthy half-blooded hypocritical loser whom you call the dark lord?" asked the person.

On hearing his words, there was a roar of rage from the deatheaters who fired killing curses at the two people, which both of them deftly dodged.

At that moment, their faces came into light. Daphne gave a gasp of surprise as did the deatheaters. The shorter guy was none other than the Gryffindor Golden Boy, the boy who lived, Harry Potter. And the guy next to him was the famous mass murderer, Sirius Black.

That fact itself confused her. Why was Potter together with Sirius Black, who was also a deatheater who had killed 12 muggles and a wizard? And, she had heard rumours of his death at the ministry premises 6 months back. But right now, she was indeed grateful that at least someone dared to defy her pursuers.

"Harry Potter and Sirius Black, who died 6 months back?" said Mulciber in disbelief.

"Oh dear mulci, you know very well how much I like to prank people. So, is it so surprising that you are seeing me alive now when I have made almost everyone believe that I am dead? After all, pranking and marauding are in our blood" said Sirius giving a mocking theatrical bow. Don't you agree prongslet?"asked Sirius grinning at Harry.

"Right you are Padfoot" said Harry grinning back.

"It doesn't matter whether you are alive or dead Black. We will definitely kill you now and take Potter to our master who will be delighted with us" said Avery smirking in anticipation.

"Bah, even your pathetic master couldn't kill or capture me 4 times in a row. So, what can his pathetic low-life servants hope to accomplish?" taunted Harry.

That statement enraged the deatheaters even more. They began firing all sorts of curses at Harry and Black, both of whom dodged them deftly and began firing back their own curses.

In the midst of this fighting, Daphne crawled over the ground and picked up her wand.

Eventually, one of the curses, which Daphne identified as a castration curse, from Black hit Rowle near his crotch making him fall to the ground howling with pain. That distraction allowed Potter to cast a stunner at Mulciber who quickly fell down unconscious. When Avery attempted to curse Potter, Daphne shot twin stunners at him and Rowle which finished the duel.

Daphne then looked at both men who were panting with exertion.

"Thanks to both of you for saving my life. I shudder to think what might have happened if both of you hadn't come on time" said Daphne gratefully.

"You're welcome miss. And, you don't need to thank me at all. Saving damsels in distress is my job which I do extremely well. By the way, mass-murderer, Azkaban escapee and ladies man Sirius Orion Black at your service" said Sirius pompously, giving her a flirtarious grin.

"Sirius, tone down a bit. She is less than half your age. So, don't even think about it" whispered Harry fiercely, to which Sirius laughed.

"Don't worry Prongslet. I can understand your jealousy. I assure you that I won't get in your way when you take your chances with such a beautiful woman" said Sirius winking at her.

Harry face palmed on hearing Sirius's words.

Daphne watched the exchange of words between them in amusement. Suddenly, she remembered the pain that she had in her left hand when her bones were broken. She had been running for at least 30 minutes and all her exhaustion returned to her at once, and she fainted.

When we woke up, she was in a comfortable king size bed. Looking at her with a concerned expression was none other than Harry Potter.

"Are you all right Miss Greengrass?" asked Potter softly.

"Yes, I am fine now Potter. By the way, where are we?" asked Daphne curiously.

"We are in the black manor, near Manchester. As soon as you fell down unconscious, Sirius and I portkeyed you to this place. Sirius has done first aid training in the past as a part of his auror training course. So, he patched you up and modified your bones in your left hand without the skele-gro. He has gone away to do god knows what. He has asked me to look after you until he comes back" explained Harry.

"Anyway, how are you feeling now?" asked Harry.

"I am feeling okay" said Daphne . The pain in her hand had gone and she was feeling physically all right. But the mental pains and agony from being almost forced to take the dark mark still clouded her mind.

"Great, so we can inform your parents immediately and they can come to collect you" said Harry feeling relieved.

"NO Harry, please don't tell them. They are deatheaters and they just don't care about me" blurted out Daphne quickly. Then, suddenly realizing what she had just revealed, she closed her mouth in shock.

Harry gaped at her.

"What?" he asked, shocked by her words.

Daphne took a deep breath and calmed her nerves. There was no point in hiding anything from Potter now. After all, Potter had just saved her life. So, she owed him at least an explanation.

"Yes Potter. My parents are hard-core deatheaters and they have poisoned the mind of my little sister too. I never had a childhood Potter. From the day I was born, I was contracted by my parents to marry Draco Malfoy. I never had any childhood. All that they wanted was a perfect pureblooded bride who served every dirty whim of her deatheater husband. I was never allowed to mingle or play with neighbouring kids, never allowed to have any kind of fun, never allowed to go outside. Even I finally arrived at Hogwarts, I had to beg the sorting hat to get me sorted into Slytherin house. Otherwise, my parents would have tortured me into insanity.

Even after getting sorted into Slytherin, I never had a peaceful time for the past 6 years. Draco Malfoy kept on stalking me whenever he got the opportunity. The other girls in my dormitory Pansy Parkinson, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode didn't like me at all because I never joined them in making cruel jokes at the expense of others, in bullying or harassing muggleborns or the so called blood traitors. I never shared the opinion of the majority of my house mates on muggleborns or the so called dork lord. So, eventually I became an outcast within the house and nobody ever spoke to me" said Daphne melancholically.

Harry was spell bound by Daphne's story. He felt disgusted by the actions of Daphne's parents and housemates, and his disgust for Malfoy deepened further.

"Furthermore, I was stalked not just my Malfoy but also by other senior students from all the houses, many of whom just wished to get their hands inside my pants. Some of them even tried to molest me" said Daphne truthfully.

"WHAT?" roared Harry enraged. He couldn't believe it. He knew that bullying and blood-based discrimination was rampant at Hogwarts, but molestation? That was too much.

"Yes Harry, that is the sad truth. I tried complaining about it many times to teachers, but no one took my words seriously. All they did was deduct some silly house-points, give them a slap on the wrist in the form of a detention and leave things as they were. Moreover, I am a stinking, slimy, good-for-nothing Slytherin who is not supposed to have any feelings of compassion or kindness or any such thing . Apparently, I can even betray my kins and friends to further my ambitions and serve the dark lord. So, why would the three quarters of Hogwarts take my word or complaint seriously?" asked Daphne sarcastically, but there was an undercurrent of anger visible beneath her eyebrows.

Hearing her words, Harry suddenly felt ashamed of himself for the prejudice he had harboured against the Slytherin house. He couldn't bear to meet Daphne's eyes as once upon a time, he too had regarded the Slytherin house as such until Sirius had taken him aside and cleared away his prejudices.

"Meanwhile, all the bullies and molesters at Hogwarts could do anything they wanted, because our esteemed Headmaster "Albus- too many names Dumbledore" always gave the tormentors not only second chances but three, four, five or even umpteen number of chances. But that man would never ever give justice to the actual victims who were in actual need of help. Do you know that Sally Ann Perks, a muggleborn student from our batch left Hogwarts last year before her OWLs because she was raped by Montague? Montague was boasting about it in the common room afterwards. I went and directly complained to Professor Dumbledore about this. And do you know what our esteemed headmaster did? He did nothing but just told me that I might have misunderstood the situation, that they might have had consensual sex and that it was very common among the youths of today. I felt like slapping his twinkling calm old face, but somehow restrained myself" said Daphne vehemently.

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing? Sure Dumbledore had the tendency to give second chances to people who didn't deserve it, Snape for example. But, he never imagined that Dumbledore would so outrightly dismiss a rape complaint. Well, it was not really surprising. After all, he was the one who had condemned Harry to ten dark and miserable years with the Dursleys for the greater good. A few years back, he would have passionately defended Dumbledore as Harry had looked up to him then. But since the past few months, he had started seeing Dumbledore in a new light, thanks to Sirius's good advice to analyze Dumbledore's each and every motive and move regarding Harry. So, Daphne's harsh view on Dumbledore didn't hurt Harry at all.

Even Daphne was surprised when Harry didn't defend Dumbledore vehemently.

"Potter, I thought that by now, you would have said something in defence of Dumbledore. Isn't Dumbledore your mentor or something? Forgive me for saying this, but some even claim that you are Dumbledore's man through and through" said Daphne curiously

Harry's face darkened.

"Miss Greengrass, rumours are carried by haters, spread by fools and accepted by idiots. You shouldn't believe everything what you might have heard about me from others. Most of them might not be correct. Anyway, I won't deny that once upon a time, I looked up to Dumbledore but many recent events have made me question his motives. Sirius has helped me regarding this" said Harry firmly.

"Oh Sorry Harry. Anyway, to keep away all those boys who wish to stalk or take advantage of me, I crafted this ice-queen persona for myself. I know of a special family curse that can freeze anyone's bits. So, I started using this spell on my pursuers and earned a fierce reputation. That at least had some advantage of making my housemates reluctant to mess with me, even if they hated me.

But everything took a turn for the worse when Voldemort returned. I knew that you were telling the truth. But I didn't dare voice it openly because the retaliation from my house would have been enormous. That is the reason why I couldn't openly support you during your 2nd year when the students stupidly believed you to be behind those attacks or during your fourth year when they falsely accused you of cheating to enter the tournament. But at least, I refused to wear those stupid badges that Malfoy had crafted" said Daphne.

Harry smiled on hearing that someone had at least secretly supported him during both these years.

"So, my parents started persuading me and eventually forced me to attend a meeting of deatheaters where I was to be branded with the dark mark. For taking the mark, I was supposed to kill an innocent muggle child of 5 years old. Naturally, I refused to do that. So, the deatheaters tortured me with the cruciatus curse, with the encouragement of my dear mom and dad. I was made to starve for days, kept in isolated confinement and not allowed to speak to anybody for days. Finally, I managed to escape their clutches but the deatheaters on guard saw me escaping and pursued me relentlessly. Had both of you not found and rescued me then, I might have been mercilessly raped or tortured into eternity. For saving my dignity and honour, I am willing to do anything for both of you. I can transfer the entire contents of my gringotts vault to you if you prefer. If you want to have sex with me for some time, I am ready for even that" said Daphne emotionally.

Harry was too shocked to respond after hearing Daphne's tale. Finally, he schooled up his emotions and replied.

"Daphne, I did not help you to gain something in return. I don't want to put you into any kind of financial trouble by emptying your vault, nor will I ever think of taking undue advantage of your offer by having unrestricted sex with you. I saved you that day because it is my duty as the scion of the Potter family to offer help to anyone who is in distress. Helping others without caring for my own safety is in my veins, it is in my blood. I don't care whether you are a Slytherin or not, but no woman deserves to be unduly taken advantage of in any manner.

The only thing that I can humbly request from you now is your friendship. I can't even imagine the horrors you might have undergone for the past several days. But, I can promise you that I will do my very best to ensure that you will never be alone in facing those horrors again. If I have it my way, I will ensure that your life from now on will be devoid of all difficulties. You have suffered quite enough. Now it is time to bring some joy and happiness to your life. You are free to stay with me and Sirius till the Christmas holidays end. So,what do you say Miss Greengrass? Will you be my friend?" asked Harry extending his hand.

Daphne's face broke out into a wide grin and she immediately engulfed Harry with a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you so much Potter. I will definitely be your friend" said Daphne emotionally, tears of happiness leaking out from her eyes.

"Na Na, none of this potter stuff. Call me Harry. My friends do so" said Harry smiling.

"Only if you call me Daph. No more Miss Greengrass" replied Daphne grinning back.

At that moment, Sirius entered the room to see the two teens laughing together.

He gave his trademark wolfish grin and asked "So, have I missed out anything while I was gone?"

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Hope everyone liked this chapter. Sirius's survival after Harry's 5****th**** year and how Harry & Daphne did underage magic without attracting ministry's attention and stuff like that will be explained in later chapters**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Here is the 3****rd**** chapter. Hope everyone likes it.**

**Flashback continues… (25****th**** December, 1996: Black manor, Manchester: 9 AM)**

"No Padfoot, only that Daphne feels all right now, all thanks to your excellent first aid skills" replied Harry grinning

"Thanks Prongslet, but it seems both of you have forgotten something very important about today" said Sirius frowning.

"What is it Padfoot?" asked Harry curiously.

In Reply, Sirius just shot a spell near the walls of the room, revealing the specimen hidden beneath the disillusionment charm.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS" shouted Sirius joyfully at the top of his voice.

Harry could see an elegantly constructed Christmas pine tree with flocks of beautiful fairies flying around the branches. Near the tree were two exquisitely packaged presents.

"Merry Christmas Padfoot" replied Harry, hugging Sirius joyfully.

"Merry Christmas, Mr Black" said Daphne cautiously, frowning in confusion. What she had experienced and seen till now, regarding Sirius Black didn't add up at all to whatever she had read in newspapers or heard about this man. He was supposed to a dangerous and deranged mass murderer, but he, along with Harry had saved her life, treated her injuries perfectly and now was joyfully wishing her a merry Christmas.

Sirius observed her expression and understood what the problem was.

"Miss Greengrass, whatever you might have read or heard about me is a big lie. I didn't betray the Potters, nor did I ever murder those muggles. I was framed by a person whom I thought was a close friend. The corrupt ministry, influenced by Lucius Malfoy and Albus Dumbledore didn't see fit to give me a trial. Instead, they condemned me to a lifetime in that hellhole called Azkaban. I was not given the benefit of doubt because I was born into the black family. So, naturally I would be evil and supporter of Voldemort" said Sirius sarcastically.

Daphne could empathize with Sirius because she too had been often perceived as an evil, cold-hearted bitch often because of the house to which she belonged. More ever, she had never seen Sirius in any of the death-eater meetings which her parents hosted nor had she heard about any praise for Sirius from her parents, when he had escaped from Azkaban. So, it made sense that Sirius in fact might not be guilty of all that he had been accused of.

"I am sorry Mr Black, for my pre-conceived notions about you. And thanks a lot for saving my life and mending my bones. I will never ever be able to repay you completely for your help" said Daphne emotionally.

"Hey, Mr Black was my father. No need of formalities. Call me Sirius or better, Padfoot" said Sirius grinning.

"Sorry, but why Padfoot?" asked Daphne feeling amused.

Harry and Sirius grinned at each other, before Sirius turned into a large black grim-like dog.

"THE GRIM?" yelped Daphne, feeling scared.

Suddenly Sirius turned back into human form and started laughing in his typical bark-like way. Harry too grinned widely at Daphne's stupefied expression.

"That is why I am called Padfoot Miss. Because, my feet are like soft pads" said Sirius grinning.

Daphne soon recovered from her shock and smiled at him.

"That was amazing. This explains so much about how you were able to hide for so long. Since there are only 7 registered animagi in this century and I didn't see your name anywhere in the list, you must be an unregistered animagi. Right?" asked Daphne.

"Yes, I am" said Sirius confidently. Then, suddenly his expression turned serious. "So, Miss Greengrass, I don't know whether Harry might have told you, but you definitely heard those deatheaters last night. I did fake my death in the department of mysteries six months back. The ministry and public don't know of my innocence and they believe that I am dead. Only Harry here knows the truth of my continued existence. So, I must insist that you take a magical oath not to reveal to anyone about my continued survival nor mention the location of this Black manor to anyone and to uphold whatever secrets or facts that we randomly mention without disclosing them to anyone" said Sirius, peering intently at her.

Sirius's demands were reasonable and she unhesitatingly took the magical oaths.

Then, Daphne asked the question which had been bothering her for some time.

"But Padfoot, why did you fake your own death?" asked Daphne feeling confused.

"That is a very long story Daphne. Harry and I will fill you the details as the time progresses. Now, let us forget all this seriousness and have a delightful and merry Christmas. I have brought a huge Christmas cake as well as Christmas sweets, and presents for both of you. Let us have a jolly time for today" said Sirius jumping like an overgrown kid.

**Flashback ends**

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Daphne smiled widely as she recollected that memory. Since that day, she had spent the rest of the Christmas vacation with Harry and Sirius. It was the best time of her life. She didn't have to act like an ice bitch with both of them, since they never made any moves on her. The broom rides and dives with Harry were just so exhiliarating. It was no wonder that people often compared him to Viktor Krum. Harry seemed so natural on a broom.

Sirius and Harry had picked up the wands of those 3 deatheaters, broken their wand hands, obliviated them completely of all memories and placed portkeys on them that dropped them in front of the ministry premises. They were reportedly sent to Azkaban by Scrimgeour who was finally glad to mention to public that he was actually doing something. Daphne couldn't help but admire both the guys for waging a single handed war against Voldemort and the deatheaters while remaining hidden. Since she had taken the oaths to uphold their secrets, they had no hesitation in including her also in their plans.

Sirius used to train Harry daily in spell fighting and Daphne began joining these lessons. Sirius Black was an excellent teacher. He was like a mix of father and elderly brother figure which Daphne never had. They learned so many arcane black family curses which were borderline dark spells. Finally, before she and Harry departed for Hogwarts, Sirius gave her an emergency portkey which would immediately drop her in the black manor as soon as someone other than Harry fired a lethal curse near her. It was a unique specially designed portkey, which had an added notice me not charm over it that helped her in avoiding undue attention. That portkey was the sole reason why Daphne came back to Hogwarts after the holidays got over. Else, she would never have dared to step foot in the viper's pit after daring to take the dark mark.

**After 2 days: Early Morning 5:30 AM: In the Room of Requirement**

"Good morning Daphne" said a masculine voice which belonged to Harry Potter, as soon as Daphne entered the Room of Requirement.

"Good morning Harry. By the way, a big congratulations for winning the House Quidditch Cup" said Daphne smiling at him.

"Thank you Daphne. But to be frank, it was not exactly surprising that we won the cup. Our team had indeed prepared well and Ron had finally been able to overcome his insecurity issues, though the fact that you discreetly hexed anyone who wore "Weasley is our king" badges did indeed help a lot" said Harry grinning at her gratefully.

"My pleasure Harry. Those badges were really annoying. I had indeed been itching to hex them for ages" said Daphne.

"Indeed. But, when I came back to the Gryffindor common room, as expected, a huge party was set up to celebrate our win, though I am not that fond of parties. That was also quite expected. But what I never expected was for Ginny Weasley to attempt to seduce me with a strong dose of love potion, in the form of her perfumes" said Harry casually.

"WHAT?" shouted Daphne enraged.

"Yes Harry, had it not been for the invisible Black family heir ring that Sirius gave me which detected any attempted mind intrusions or potion-poisonings, I would definitely have fallen victim to her attempts. However, I did manage to resist the aroma of her perfume. It was as difficult as resisting the imperius. I finally convinced her to come with me to the closest broom closet. She did believe that her potion had worked. However, as soon as we reached the broom closet, I stunned her and straightaway took her here" explained Harry.

"That disgusting, conniving Bitch" snarled Daphne. "Where is she now?" demanded Daphne.

"Cool down, Daph. I am going to interrogate her now using Veritaserum to find out what her intentions are. Because I don't expect any teacher at Hogwarts to interrogate her properly and our dear dumbles has a bad habit of giving undeserving people millions of second chances" said Harry with a touch of sarcasm.

"True that" mumbled Daphne, completely agreeing with him about the headmaster's attitude. "But where is she? I don't see her anywhere" said Daphne.

Harry swished his wand at the corner removing the disillusionment charm. There lay the stunned and bound, Ginny Weasley.

I have just called Sirius using our communication mirror. He will be here soon.

"Dobby" called out Harry.

Dobby immediately appeared.

"Master Harry called" said Dobby respectfully.

"Dobby, I immediately need a vial of Veritaserum. Can you please steal some from Slughorn's potion stores?" asked Harry politely.

"Dobby will immediately do that" said Dobby and disappeared.

"Hmm, now the Golden Gryffindor boy is resorting to stealing. I never expected this from the noble boy who lived" teased Daphne.

"Shut it Daph" growled Harry

At that moment, a large black dog arrived at their room and immediately turned into the handsome face of Sirius Black, who immediately greeted Harry and Daphne.

"Prongslet, did you tell Dobby to bring veritaserum?" asked Sirius.

"Yes, he will be arriving with it now" said Harry. At that moment, Dobby arrived with the required vial.

Harry took the vial, went to the prone form of Ginny Weasley and poured 3 drops over her open mouth. Then, he whispered "Ennervate".

Ginny's eyes opened with her face devoid of emotion.

"What is your name?" asked Harry, to check whether the veritaserum was working properly or not.

"Illeana Lestrange" replied Ginny monotonously.

"Sirius, I think the veritaserum is not working properly. May be, we should try to procure one from some other source" commented Harry.

"No, I don't think so Harry. Because she is showing all the signs of someone who is dosed with veritaserum and she is not even attempting to fight it. Let me ask her some questions" said Daphne.

"Okay Daphne. Carry on" said Sirius

"How come are you Illeana Lestrange and still possess the body of Ginny Weasley? As far as I know, polyjuice potions are active for a maximum period of one hour. And, if you are an imposter, how come nobody ever found out? " asked Daphne.

"I wear this ring on my left hand. This is a lestrange family heirloom and it allows one to take the appearance of whoever one likes. Taking the form of that blood traitor weasley was the most effective way to carry out my plan. That idiot wormtail put a spell on me so that I could avoid detection by the marauder's map. And, I am well versed in Occlumency. So, I could fool even Dumbledore" said Illeana.

"Of course, that traitor would know how to evade the map. Do you know where is he now?" growled Sirius.

"He is currently staying in Malfoy manor" said Illeana.

"That's it then. I am going to Malfoy Manor right now and kill him…" started Sirius, but Harry immediately intervened.

"Sirius Orion Black, you will do nothing of that sort. Please calm down Sirius. I lost my childhood to the horrible Dursleys because you went running after Wormtail. I nearly lost you because of your recklessness while you were battling Bellatrix Lestrange six months back. So,for heaven's sake, please cool down" pleaded Harry.

"Yes Padfoot, rushing recklessly into danger will never help us out. Let out your inner Slytherin and carefully analyze the situation and act upon it. We will definitely capture wormtail and clear your name as soon as we can. But right now, we have to find out where this bitch might have hidden the actual Ginny Weasley and what were her reasons for impersonating Ginny" said Daphne calmly.

Sirius took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then, he opened them slowly and replied remorsefully, "I am really sorry, I got carried away when I heard the name of that traitor".

"It's okay Padfoot, now let us finish interrogating this impersonator" said Harry with determination.

Then, he turned to Illeana and asked in a cold voice "What was your plan?"

"To impersonate Ginny Weasley, and make you jealous by pretending to date Dean Thomas. I somehow managed to convince Molly Weasley into giving me the ingredients for that special perfume which she had used to ensnare Arthur Weasley when they were at Hogwarts. She was already in favour of wanting you as a son-in-law and was ready to adopt any devious means to achieve it" Said Illeana

"So, my suspictions regarding Molly were in fact correct. I always wondered how a decent gentleman like Arthur could ever fall for that harridan" mused Sirius thoughtfully.

"Continue" commanded Daphne

"So, I started brewing the perfumed Luxurio amortentia, the special love potion exclusively developed by the Prewett family ancestors in the past. My master had told me to seduce you eventually using the potion, distract you from ruining the task given to Draco Malfoy and finally deceive you when you were least expecting it and bringing you to him so that he could finally finish you. I was also told to kill your friends also if possible to demoralize you" said Illeana monotonously.

Harry clenched his hands tightly. He was about to punch Illeana when Daphne stopped him.

"Where is Ginny Weasley now? When did you start impersonating her?" asked Daphne in a gritted voice.

"I started impersonating her from last June in Hogsmeade, just before she got into the Hogwarts express back home. She is right now in the Carnal Delights" said Illeana.

"What exactly is this carnal delights?" asked Harry furiously.

"It is a prostitution house run by the Selwyns, who fund our Master's plans frequently. They abduct women, especially muggleborns and veela, from all over the country, rape them, perform dark mind-altering magics on them to make them do various seduction tasks. They also kidnap children from wizarding and muggle houses and sell them. Once their utility is over, they are brutually killed" said Illeana emotionlessly.

"Where is it? And, describe all the protections over it" asked Harry furiously, while Daphne and Sirius growled in anger on hearing about what this carnal delights was.

"It is near Hogwarts, on the opposite side of the forbidden forest. There is a ward which allows entry only for people with the dark mark or those who have membership for this house. That membership is given by Dolores Umbridge who masterminds the activities of this club. Then, there are the standard muggle-repelling, anti-apparition, anti-portkey wards and also the recently introduced anti-animagus ward" said Illeana.

"Shit" swore Sirius on hearing about the anti-animagus ward.

"And, what is Draco Malfoy doing on behalf of Voldemort? Can you tell me?" asked Daphne.

"He has been given the task of killing Dumbledore by the end of this year. The Dark Lord expects him to fail doing it. This is merely a punishment for Lucius's recent failures. The Dark Lord actually expects Severus Snape to carry out this task because Severus Snape has managed to completely fool the barmy old man. The Dark Lord expects Severus Snape to deceive Dumbledore when he is least expecting it" said Illeana.

"Do you know how Draco Malfoy is planning to carry out this task?" asked Harry.

"That I don't know" said Illeana.

The Veritaserum was now starting to wear off. So, Harry immediately stunned her. Then, he turned to Sirius.

"Padfoot, we have to rescue Ginny Weasley and all those poor women from that horrible place. We won't be able to do this all by ourselves. It is vital that we reveal ourselves to somebody in the order who doesn't blindly follow Dumbledore and bring them to our plans. We have to find out and destroy all Voldemort's horcruxes and also, find out the locations where the deatheaters are hiding. For doing all that, we require some help" said Harry urgently.

"Well Moony is off the list then. That man is too devoted to Dumbledore. Same goes for all the Weasleys, Alastor Moody and Tonks as well. The only one whom I can think of is Kingsley Shacklebolt. Last year, I remember him vocally disagreeing with many of Dumbledore's decisions. I think he can be a suitable and powerful ally for us due to his high position in the ministry too. Through him, we can somehow take the support of aurors in raiding carnal delights and getting them arrested" said Sirius.

"And what use is there in simply having them arrested? Those rotten bastards will simply bribe the corrupt ministry workers and get away. And, there are vermin like Dolores Umbridge in the ministry who don't have a dark mark, yet they are worse than deatheaters. Even if the deatheaters are arrested, Voldemort will somehow manage to free them just as he did so last year" said Daphne vehemently.

"Daphne, are you really talking about killing someone? If we do that, that makes us as bad as the deatheaters" said Harry, aghast with Daphne's suggestion.

"Harry, I think Daphne is right. I have been thinking about this too. Though I am not too inclined to kill someone, it is sometimes essential in times of did the same mistake in the last war. Dumbledore explicitly forbade all the order members from killing anyone. That resulted in heavy losses from our side. This is war Harry. We can't win it using stunners and disarming charms" said Sirius.

"Exactly Harry. And killing the deatheater vermin won't make you as bad as them because you are killing them to protect the innocents, just like a soldier. A few days back, didn't you mention your 1st year where you killed Quirell using your bare hands to prevent him from getting the stone. Didn't you kill the basilisk with that sword to protect all the innocent muggleborns at Hogwarts, didn't you stab the horcrux diary to kill that version of Tom Riddle and aren't you training to kill Voldemort to fulfill that wretched Prophecy? If you have to kill that evil Voldemort, what hesitation do you have in killing those deatheaters, most of whom are as bad as Voldemort. Those vermin lost the right to live when they started killing innocent children and raping women. They should be shown no mercy" said Daphne passionately.

Harry thought furiously about what Daphne and Sirius told him just now. He was still against killing but Daphne's and Sirius's words made sense. This was war and the deatheaters had to be stopped at all costs to protect innocents. Slowly, a glint appeared in his emerald eyes that no one had ever seen before. He was no longer that same Harry Potter which Dumbledore had carefully nurtured.

"Let's do it then. Tonight, we will contact Kingsley and raid the carnal delights" said Harry with determination, and he got matching nods from Sirius and Daphne.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Hope everyone liked this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hi everyone. I hope everyone likes this chapter.**

Kingsley Shacklebolt was sitting in the drawing room of his house. He had just come back from an order meeting where the disappearance of the youngest Weasley was discussed. She had reportedly gone missing yesterday and the Weasleys were frantic with worry.

Molly Weasley had gone hysterical when she heard that her daughter was missing. The others were shocked too. Nobody ever expected that she could be abducted right under Albus's nose. When the students of the Gryffindor tower were questioned, the last that anyone had seen her was during the post-match celebrations in the Gryffindor common room. A few students had seen her going out with Harry Potter. But when Harry Potter was questioned, he denied any knowledge about Ginny Weasley's whereabouts.

Suddenly, he sensed the wards of his house informing him about a few arrivals.

He picked up his wand, went to the door and cautiously opened it. One had to be very paranoid these days if one valued one's safety.

On opening the door, he was surprised to see none other than Harry Potter.

"When did we first meet Potter?" asked Kingsley, pointing his wand at Harry.

"When you came along with the order Guard to my relatives house a year back to drop me at my Godfather's house" Harry answered the security question promptly.

"Good, come in" said Kingsley satisfied with the answer.

Kingsley invited Harry inside and served him a bottle of lemonade, which Harry enjoyed.

"So Potter, I am surprised to see you here. I thought you were supposed to be at school" said Kingsley.

"Mr Shacklebolt, there is something very important that I have to tell you. But I must first get some assurance or oath from you that you will hear me out patiently before taking any action or jumping into conclusions and never reveal to anyone, not even to Dumbledore, what you are going to hear from me now, until you get my express permission. Because what I am about to reveal to you is extremely confidential and of a sensitive nature" said Harry seriously.

Shacklebolt's curiosity peaked. What was it that Harry deemed so important that it required an oath from him? He was quite reluctant to give an oath as Harry suggested, because Magical oaths were very dangerous and tricky things which could cost your magic if you deviated even slightly from the oath.

"I am sorry Potter, but I cannot give a magical oath just like that. I can give you my word that I will keep your confidence and hear you out patiently before taking any decision" said Kingsley calmly in a deep voice.

Harry sighed. He had expected Kingsley to refuse giving a magical oath , but it was still worth a try. For now, he urgently required Kingsley's help and so he had to take some risks.

"Sirius, Daphne you can come out now" said Harry tiredly.

Two figures materialized out of thin air as their disillusionment charms faded. The first one was an unknown woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. But it was the second person who surprised him.

"Sirius?" whispered Kingsley, thoroughly shocked.

"Hello Kingsley, it's been a while since we have seen each other. The last time I remember, we were dueling together at the Department of Mysteries" said Sirius grinning widely at the stupefied expression on Kingsley's face.

Kingsley's misgivings that this might be imposter completely vanished when Sirius transformed himself into a dog and back to human form. One's animagus form couldn't be easily faked.

"But Sirius, I saw you die that day when you fell through the veil. I clearly saw Bellatrix Lestrange casting a stunning spell at you that made you fall through the veil" said Kingsley frowning.

"Kingsley, the person whom you saw was not me but an imperiused deatheater whose body features I had transfigured precisely to make a replica of me. Human to human transfiguration is a very difficult field of transfiguration in which James was an expert. He taught me the basics of it. Both of us could master it perfectly because it wasn't as difficult as becoming an animagus.

You see Kingsley, I had been planning to fake my death for so many days. I got the opportunity when we arrived at the department of mysteries that day to rescue Harry and his friends. I immediately disillusioned myself and cast the imperius curse at the nearby deatheater. I then proceeded to do human-to-human transfiguration on him making him look like an exact replica of me. Then, I mentally commanded him to duel the deatheaters exactly as I preferred. I positioned my replica close to the veil of death while he was dueling bellatrix and just made him carelessly taunt her for my satisfaction. Naturally, her next spell made him fall through the veil.

The most difficult part of this whole scheme was seeing Harry's desperate cries for me to come back. Thank God Moony held him back from jumping into the veil. I was almost tempted to abandon my plan then. When Harry went chasing after Bellatrix to avenge my supposed death, I was completely prepared to screw my plans and stop Harry, but before I could do so, I was hit by a stray stunning spell that knocked me out. But thanks to the disillusionment charm, nobody saw me. When I woke up, the battle had ceased. I was really worried about what had happened to Harry

So, I went to Number 12 Grimmauld place. Kreacher was surprised that I was still alive. That little shit had been consorting with the Malfoys and plotting my death. I wanted to kill him at that spot, but that elf wasn't even worth the effort. So, I forbade him from contacting any deatheaters and revealing the secret of my continued existence to anyone. Meanwhile, the portrait of Phineas Nigellus who was searching for me throughout the house found me. I fordade him from revealing my existence to anyone. Since, he is a black family portrait, he is bound to obey me since his loyalty is naturally more towards the black family than to the headmaster. Phineas had told me about how Dumbledore took Harry to his office and finally revealed the contents of the prophecy to him.

I was further told by Phineas that in the wake of my supposed death, Harry had torn Dumbledore's office apart and raged at him. It was heartbreaking to hear that my death had affected him so much. So, I decided to reveal the secret of my continued existence to him a few days later" explained Sirius.

"You know Mr Shackebolt, through an owl, this git just sent me a surprise portkey at 1:30 in the morning while I was sleeping in the Gryffindor tower. It so happens that while there are anti-apparition wards in Hogwarts as my dear friend Hermione constantly reminds me, Hogwarts has got no anti-portkey wards. So, I was so rudely dropped into the shrieking shack ruining my sleep. There, this git just casually greeted me as if it was all a big prank and just transformed himself into a dog and started licking my face" said Harry.

"I remember you fainting Prongslet. That expression of surprise on your face was just priceless" said Sirius chuckling.

"Shut it Padfoot. Did you forget that I punched your face after I woke up?" asked Harry smirking.

Sirius immediately shut up. That was quite a strong punch from his godson.

"Well, he deserved it for putting me through so much emotional pain for pulling off your crazy stunt. I had been morose for 3 continuous days before this git decided to surprise me" said Harry.

Kingsley who had been sitting spell bound by this whole tale suddenly spoke up.

"But Sirius, why did you go through all this drama? Do you have any idea how much pain we all felt when you died Sirius? Not only Harry, but Lupin was quite morose too for so many days after you died. Did you do this just because Dumbledore had forbidden you from getting out of the house? It was only for your own good Sirius. Quite frankly, I never expected such a cowardly move from you. You always complain about Wormtail's treachery. But both of you are similar regarding the fact that both of you managed to fool all of us and fake your own deaths" said Kingsley frowning.

Sirius growled furiously on being compared to that traitor and was about to hit Shacklebolt, when Harry suddenly stopped him.

At that moment, Daphne suddenly spoke up.

"First, let me introduce myself. I am Daphne Greengrass, 6th year student at Hogwarts. Mr Shacklebolt, Sirius is neither cowardly nor is he even slightly similar to Wormtail. He and Harry here risked their own lives and gallantly rescued me from the perverted deatheaters 3 months ago. Those deatheaters were pursuing me against my wishes, but with the full support of my dear mom and dad who support Voldemort. Since then, I stayed at Sirius's house for the remainder of the Christmas vacation. I have seen the work that is doing behind the shadows along with Harry in undermining Voldemort's work. He even gave me an emergency portkey with an added notice-me-not charm to protect me from the deatheater spawns inside my house" said Daphne.

Sirius who had by now cooled down started explaining his reasoning to Shacklebolt.

"Kingsley, I faked my death not just to escape the confinement inside Grimmauld place. Last year April, two months before the Department of mysteries battle, I had visited Gringotts without anyone's knowledge. I wanted to update my will and leave everything to Harry. Since Gringotts is an independent territory and doesn't fall under the ministry's jurisdiction, I was welcome there. There, I decided to declare Harry as the heir to the black fortune. Since, James had given me access to the Potter vaults, I was allowed to access the Potter Family vault. When I went there, I discovered a copy of the Potter's will which was sealed by the ministry. The will clearly stated that Pettigrew was the secret keeper, and that in case the Potters died, the guardianship should under no circumstances be given to the Dursleys. And this will was witnessed by the esteemed Albus Dumbledore himself. Here is the copy of the will" said Sirius, giving it to Kingsley who read it with a shocked look on his face.

"It is obvious that Dumbledore never respected the Potters decisions given in the will .Moreover, the bastard knew that I was the secret keeper and he didn't even attempt to give me a trial, while scum like Snape and Karkaroff easily got away" said Sirius with distaste.

"Sirius later took me to Gringotts and showed me all the financial transactions done in my name by Dumbledore, as my self-appointed magical guardian. The old man had abandoned me to the mercy of the cruel Dursleys for 10 years. Those horrible muggles made me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs for 10 years, emotionally and verbally abused me, even physically abused me by allowing Dudley and his hooligan friends to beat and punch me, and engage in Harry Hunting. Dumbledore professes the value of love so much, but he never hesitated to place me with those abusive muggles who never loved me" said Harry emotionally.

Daphne sub-consciously held Harry's hand to give him moral support while Harry was venting out his frustrations.

"And, do you know what the worst part of it is. Dumbledore gave the Dursleys a monthly stipend from my account to take care of me, but inspite of that, the Dursleys considered me as a burden for them. It is now obvious where Uncle Vernon got so much money to buy those expensive birthday presents for Dudley, when all I got from them was a pair of old socks or else, a 50 pence coin. After all, why would a hopeless and dangerous freak like me deserve any worthwhile presents?" said Harry who immediately felt tears stinging his eyes.

Sirius went to comfort Harry but he was overtaken by Daphne who immediately hugged him tightly.

"Harry, please listen to me. You are not a freak and no decent and honourable person would ever call you a freak. I have known you for 3 months Harry and I can say with certainty that you are the most bravest, kind, sincere and honest person that I have ever seen. Those Dursleys are the real freaks. They never realized that they had got such a wonderful nephew like you. You suffered for 10 years under them, yet you turned out to be an amazing person. And, don't ever say that no one loves you. You have got very good friends like Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna who risked their lives for you last year, you have got your dear godfather who broke out of Azkaban and faked his own death to ensure your wellbeing and you will always have me. I will never ever leave you" said Daphne patting him on the back to soothe his feelings.

Sirius smiled at the sight and felt really happy for his godson. Harry was quite lucky to have Daphne as a friend, may be not just a friend, but much more than a friend. May be, the time had come for him to give his Godson, the Talk.

Kingsley was too shocked to respond. The revelations given by Sirius and Harry had really shattered the positive impression that he had about Dumbledore. Kingsley was never fond of Dumbledore's passive tactics but never did he imagine in his wildest dreams that Dumbledore would do such things to Sirius and Harry.

"It is apparently obvious that Dumbledore wanted me out of the way so that he could send Harry to the Dursleys. He was quite conveniently delivered the Hogwarts letter by Hagrid who always sings praises about Dumbledore. So naturally, Harry would develop that blind devotion for the old man who had supposedly rescued him from the Dursleys. Then, it would be quite easy to manipulate Harry. That is why, I wanted to get out of Dumbledore's thumb as soon as possible. I will certainly fight against the deatheaters along with my godson who is more than capable, and Daphne, who is literally the dangerous Ice Queen for her enemies. But we will do it independent of Dumbledore's machinations. All that we want to ask you Kingsley is that, are you willing to join our Group? If you are, you will have to swear some magical oaths as we desire" stated Sirius, giving him the list.

"And, you will be coming along with us to rescue Ginny Weasley. We know that you have an advanced knowledge of curse-breaking too, but not as good as Bill Weasley. You had studied an extra course on Curse breaking and warding during your 3 year auror training and you have learnt some things from Bill as well last year. We didn't enlist the help of Bill because we don't know whether he would report it to Dumbledore. The Weasley family is too loyal to Dumbledore because it is only thanks to Dumbledore that they are able to send their kids to Hogwarts. The same goes for Lupin who would be forever indebted to Dumbledore because Dumbledore gave him admission to Hogwarts inspite of him being a werewolf. But you have no such obligation to the old man and you also completely disapprove of his tactics, as Sirius told me. Sirius here also mentioned to me that you are a man of integrity and ethics and we require such people. So, are you willing to join us?" asked Harry peering intently at Kingsley.

Kingsley thought about everything that Harry, Daphne and Sirius had told him. Their points made sense logically. After analyzing everything he had heard just now, he felt some sort of repulsion against Dumbledore. Without hesitation, he spoke out loudly.

"Yes, I am willing to join your team" and gave all the necessary oaths to Sirius.

"Good, now we have an important mission for tonight. We need to rescue so many people from Carnal Delights, which is a prostitution house near the forbidden forest at Hogwarts. It is one of the main sources of funding for the deatheaters. We have information that Ginny Weasley is being held there against her will. So, let's prepare ourselves for the rescue mission" said Daphne emphatically.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Hope everyone liked this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hi everyone. Hope everyone likes this chapter.**

**At Carnal Delights**

Marcus Flint was grinning sadistically as he remembered the delight he had few hours back as he had made the girl scream in pain when he had forced himself on her. That filthy mudblood had done her best to resist his advances but he was too strong for her. Finally she had succumbed to unconsciousness after he was finished with her. The filthy vermin like her deserved it for polluting the magical world with their radical ideas.

At that moment, he heard a pop nearby. Suddenly alarms started blaring loudly which meant that someone untrustworthy had entered the Carnal Delights uninvited. He raised his wand and prepared himself to confront that person who dared to trespass here, but before he could advance any further, he was struck by a bolt of green light and he was dead before he hit the ground.

The disillusionment charms faded to reveal 4 people and a house-elf: One of them was a man with messy black hair with striking emerald green eyes, the second one was a woman with blue eyes and beautiful blonde hair, the third one was a handsome dog-like man with sunken eyes and an aristocratic face, the fourth one was a long and bald person.

"Wow, House-elves can be damn useful. We didn't even have to dismantle those anti-apparition wards to get in. It seems, Dobby can pop us anywhere we want to go. Thank you Dobby" said Harry looking appreciatively at Dobby. Dobby burst into happy tears saying how great Master Harry Potter was for appreciating him.

"Yeah, but it didn't stop the alarms from blaring here as soon as we entered. We have to quickly rescue everyone and get out from here before more death eaters arrive here. I have dismantled the anti-portkey wards and made a set of portkeys which will take the victims to the Black manor. We can send them to St Mungo's afterwards" said Kingsley in a deep voice.

"Sure Kingsley" said Sirius lowering his wand after striking Flint with the killing curse.

The four of them, along with the house elf crept along the house with their wands raised.

Suddenly, two death eaters appeared before them with their wands raised. Without hesitation, the four of them fired cutting curses that instantly slit their throats. Leaving the corpses of the 2 deatheaters behind, the 5 of them proceeded to the next room. What they saw shocked them to the core. Many women and small children were lying half-naked across the room, with most of them barely conscious. Harry could spot the broken visage of Ginny Weasley a few feet away.

Suddenly, a stunning spell struck Kingsley and he fell down unconscious.

The rest of them turned around only to see a bunch of 3 death eaters and Dolores Umbridge. All of them were slack-jawed on seeing Sirius Black alive. Umbridge was the first to recover from the shock

"Look who we have here. Harry Potter, the attention seeking boy who lies and the mass murderer Sirius Black who apparently faked his death and the runaway blood traitor Daphne Greengrass. None of you are going to get out of here alive" said Umbridge sweetly.

"Umbridge, it is really nice of you to come here. You did torture me a lot last year. So, it is time for me to pay you back. It is time to get rid of filthy vermin like you from the face of the Earth" said Harry, his emerald green eyes glowing with anger.

She snarled and shot a blood boiling curse at Harry which he shielded himself against using the aegis shield, an advanced version of protégo.

The duel started between the 2 groups. Daphne cast a shield to prevent the stray curses from hitting the innocent victims, most of whom were not even in a position to dodge. Then, she cast an enervate at Kingsley who joined the duel making it a 4- on -4 fight.

Dobby, as instructed started popping the victims to the Black Manor. When he was tired of popping, he distributed the portkeys to the victims which transported them to the black manor.

Meanwhile, the duel was going on furiously. Harry was fighting one- on-one against Alex Parkinson, Sirius was pitched against Gibbon and Kingsley was dueling Yaxley. Daphne was engaged in firing spells at Umbridge.

Suddenly, Umbridge fired a cruciatus at Daphne which made her scream loudly with pain. Harry's blood boiled when he heard Daphne's screams. He conjured a slab of granite which intercepted the killing curse sent by Parkinson which broke it into thousands of tiny sharp pieces. Harry then banished those pieces at Umbridge which embedded themselves over Umbridge's torso making her scream in pain.

This broke the cruciatus on Daphne who made use of this distraction to fire her trademark freezing spell at Umbridge, which knocked her out. She would be dead within another 10 minutes due to the injuries sustained from the banished pieces.

Harry who was distracted from dueling Parkinson didn't see the jet of blue light that was coming for him from Parkinson's wand. However, Dobby who was watching the duel with wide eyes conjured his own shield using the house-elf magic that rebounded the spell back at Parkinson, who was not at all expecting this.

The blue jet of the organ liquefying curse hit Parkinson making him scream in agony. He suffered a painful death within another 5 minutes.

Now Harry and Daphne were free of opponents. So, they immediately helped Sirius and Kingsley in quickly overpowering their opponents. Daphne suggested that they leave those 2 men alive, take them to the Black manor, interrogate them using Veritaserum to find out more about Voldemort's plans and activities.

After their work was done successfully, the four of them along with Dobby portkeyed themselves to the Black manor.

"I have a healer friend called Thompson in France. I can contact him and arrange for these victims to be sent to that magical hospital in Paris. It is a far bigger one than the St Mungo's here in Britain, and it has special units for mind healing for those who have undergone trauma for longer durations. These victims obviously need that. And, I will also take the responsibility of informing the Weasleys about what happened to their Daughter, in the order meeting which is scheduled for tomorrow" said Kingsley.

"But what will you tell them?" asked Sirius.

"That, I was requested to join a special secret vigilante team and raided this death-eater funded prostitution house Carnal Delights along with them and found Ginny Weasley there. I will somehow or the other convince them the reason why their daughter should be treated by a suitable mind healer. If Dumbledore tries to force me one way or the other to reveal more information, I will just quit the order" said Kingsley.

"Thanks a lot Kingsley. Anyway, Ginny Weasley should have been sent to a mind-healer after Tom had possessed her for over a year. I don't understand why Dumbledore, Pomphrey or any of the other teachers never recommended that" said Harry confused.

"Harry, I am not that surprised. It is quite par for Dumbledore or the teachers or the matron to ignore so many incidents at Hogwarts. After all, Pomphrey never treated you or give you nutritional potions to correct your malnutrition owing to your 10 year stay with the abusive Dursleys. Any competent healer would have detected signs of child abuse on seeing your unique behavior as well as your thin body" said Daphne.

"That is all fine. But what I am concerned about is the fact that whether Snivellus knew about the Carnal Delights. He is a double-agent. So, he should have known about it, unless Voldemort suspects him which seems unlikely" said Sirius thoughtfully.

"If Snape knew about it and didn't do anything about it, then that puts a big question mark on his loyalties. Or else, he must have told Dumbledore but Dumbledore didn't do anything about it" said Harry.

"It is unlikely that Dumbledore knew about it too. Look, I know that Dumbledore is a manipulative person but he is not evil" said Kingsley. When Sirius started protesting, Kingsley addressed him "Yes yes, I know that he didn't inform the ministry about the fact that you were not the secret keeper, but if he really wanted to kill you, he could easily have told the ministry of your location and the dementors would have come and kissed you. He had nearly 2 years to do so. So that means, he has some hidden agenda in mind regarding Sirius and Harry which we have to find out. He obviously wants both of you to be beholden to him" said Kingsley.

"That is beside the point, but the fact is that Snape most likely didn't inform anyone regarding the existence of this Carnal Delights. But right now, we can't do anything about him because he is under Dumbledore's protection. Anyway, I have something important to tell all of you. I have finally found out how Draco Malfoy intends to kill Dumbledore" said Daphne.

That peaked the curiosity of the three men.

"How?" asked Harry.

"Harry, there is a broken vanishing cabinet close to the Room of Requirement. It is connected to its pair in Borgin and Burkes. That is the same cabinet in which Montague was trapped by Fred and George Weasley. Malfoy has been trying to repair it throughout this year. At times, when repairing it has proven to be quite a difficult task, he lost his head and tried to murder Dumbledore through the cursed necklace and the poisoned bottle of mead. Both of them were meant to be delivered to Dumbledore, but unfortunately Katie Bell and Ron Weasley became victims of Malfoy's shenanigans.

So as soon as Malfoy manages to repair the cabinet, he plans to bring the deatheaters inside the castle who wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone they encounter on their way, while he sneakily manages to kill Dumbledore when he is distracted" said Daphne seriously.

Harry, Sirius and Kingsley were shocked into silence.

"Daph, this is serious. How did you come to know of this?" asked Harry.

Daphne smirked.

"Harry, when Malfoy was lying in the hospital wing thanks to your sectumsempra curse, I somehow managed to do legilimency on Crabbe and Goyle to find out about Malfoy's plans. I partially obliviated them later, so that they wouldn't have any memories of my encounter with them. Can you believe that he has been polyjuicing them into 1st year girls to stand guard over the Room of Requirement?" asked Daphne.

Harry guffawed.

"No wonder they look so unhappy nowadays. Anyway, how did you learn Legilimency? " asked Harry.

"I learned Leglimency and Occlumency through constant dedication and practice Harry. It is difficult to learn them by oneself, but it is possible if we know the proper meditation techniques and the theory behind them. Without learning them, I couldn't have survived for 6 years in the Slytherin dorms. I can teach it to you if you want. It is quite a useful skill" offered Daphne seriously.

"Anyway, we have to inform Dumbledore about this. Whatever my feelings towards the man, the presence of Malfoy in the castle puts the life of the students at stake. We should somehow convince the headmaster to expel Malfoy" said Sirius vehemently.

"But we don't have any proof of Malfoy's involvement. So, on what grounds can he expel malfoy?" asked Kingsley.

"We can show him the the Dark mark on his forearm and Malfoy's fingerprints on the vanishing cabinet. Moreover, Scrimgeour is dead set on somehow proving to the public that he is working against the deatheaters. So, arresting Draco malfoy would be like a feather on his cap. After all, his wealthy father is in Azkaban now. So, there is nobody to bail him out. And just in case, he manages to escape justice through covert means, I can always destroy the vanishing cabinet using the reductor curse" suggested Daphne.

"That's a brilliant idea Daph" said Harry smiling at her.

"Yeah, anyway I will contact Healer Thompson from the Premier Magical Hospital of France and deliver the victims there. But I don't know how expensive it is going to be" said Kingsley.

"You need not worry about expenses Kingsley. I will pay for the treatment of each and every victim. After all, the liquidity of Black vaults is quite high" said Sirius.

"I too will contribute from the Potter vaults" said Harry.

"Me too Kingsley. I will give a sizeable amount from my trust vault. After all, the treatment of these victims is of greater priority to me than my own personal expenses" said Daphne.

Kingsley smiled at the three of them. He was immensely glad that he had given his oaths to Sirius and decided to work with them. They had accomplished more in one night than the order had accomplished in two years.

The four of them went to the drawing room where the victims were there. Dobby had arranged for light food and juice for all of them.

As soon as the four of them entered, the victims started looking at them with immense gratitude.

There was a 10 year old girl amongst them, who had red hot marks all over her face. She was crying. Harry grimaced internally. 'The brutuality of these disgusting men. Why couldn't they at least spare small children' thought Harry.

Harry went to the small girl, lowered himself to the ground and gently raised her chin.

"Sweetie, what is your name?"

"Jasmine" answered the girl in a small voice, in between sobs.

"Jasmine, please don't cry. We won't allow anybody to ever hurt you again. This big man" said Harry pointing to Kingsley "is going to take you to a nice place where you will get well soon. After that, you will soon meet your mommy and daddy" said Harry gently.

"Mommy and daddy are dead. The bad men killed them" said Jasmine with tears in her eyes.

Harry couldn't say anything as he felt too shocked to respond. What had this poor girl done to those deatheaters to deserve such treatment? She was an orphan just like him. At that moment, he felt even more determined than ever before to wipe out Voldemort from the face of the planet. He was the one who was responsible for all of this. He and his pathetic deatheaters had killed and tortured so many innocent people like Jasmine, and Harry wouldn't rest in peace until each and every one of them were finished off.

"Jasmine, please look at me. You will never be alone in this world. Your mommy and daddy were very brave and nice people who gave sacrificed their lives to see you happy. I am willing to take care of all your needs, after you get treated. You will never have to face another moment of unhappiness in your life" said Harry gently to the girl, who smiled at him widely. That beautiful innocent smile itself was like a balm for Harry.

Harry looked around and saw everyone looking at him in admiration.

Daphne smiled at seeing Harry interact gently with the kid. He looked so cute and adorable. 'Wait, where did that thought come from?'

Harry looked around and spotted Ginny who was looking at Sirius with wide eyes.

"Harry, I was kidnapped last year by the deatheaters. The person who is at Hogwarts is not me, but the daughter of Rabastan Lestrange " started Ginny in panic.

"Shh Ginny, we know everything and we did capture her. And Sirius is alive. He had faked his own death" remarked Harry when he saw her looking at Sirius as if she had seen a ghost.

"Ginny, we are sending you and everyone else here to a magical hospital in France, which is better than the St Mungo's. You need medical attention for not just your physical damage, but mental trauma as well. This will take a long time. As soon as you start recovering, we will inform your family about what happened to you. You are like a little sister to me Ginny, and I will do my best to ensure that nothing like this ever happens to you again" said Harry soothingly.

Ginny just nodded tearfully at him.

Then, Kingsley went to contact healer Thompson and after an hour, some people from magical hospital of Paris arrived to transport the victims there for further treatment. All the while, Harry, Daphne and Sirius kept talking to the victims trying their best to soothe and comfort them. Eventually, every victim was transported to France through Portkeys. Then, Kingsley went to inform the order and the Weasleys to give a highly edited version of what happened.

"I think it would be better if both of you went back to Hogwarts now" said Sirius.

Harry and Daphne nodded and Sirius side-apparated them to Hogsmeade from where, they started walking back to Hogwarts.

As soon as they reached Hogwarts, they parted ways and Harry started walking towards the Gryffindor tower.

As soon as he entered the Gryffindor common room, he saw Professor McGonagall and almost the whole of the Gryffindor house assembled there.

"Mr Potter, where were you till now? We have been looking for you all over the castle" barked McGonagall.

"Professor, I went out of the castle to help in rescuing Ginny Weasley along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, as a part of a special vigilante team which combats deatheaters. Kingsley will explain all the details in today's order meeting" said Harry non-chalantly.

"How is she Harry?" asked Ron with worry.

"She has been severely injured and sexually traumatized by the deatheaters Ron, after they abducted her. So, she has been sent to the Premier Magical Hospital in Paris where she will be treated accordingly by a certified mind healer. It will take a long time for her to heal. But Kingsley will sent you the updates as soon as she is on the way to recovery. Don't worry mate. She will get well soon. I will pay for her expensive treatment from my own pockets, because she is like a sister to me too" said Harry to Ron, who surprisingly didn't object to Harry's charity.

There were gasps all around, especially from Hermione, when Harry mentioned that she had been abducted by deatheaters and sexually traumatized.

"That is all fine Mr Potter. I will learn more about that from Mr Shacklebolt. But you had no right to get out of the castle without taking prior permission from the professors. You should have come to a teacher instead. There are plenty of adults to deal with outside problems. So, 50 points will be deducted from Gryffindor and you will be serving a week's worth detentions with me" said McGonagall with severity.

"Professor, I don't care about silly housepoints any more. Even if you deduct 1000 points from me, I will not change my attitude. You can give me any number of unfair detentions that you want, but I will not attend any one of them" said Harry defiantly.

There were gasps all around at Harry's blatant show of disrespect to a Professor. Hermione looked scandalized. McGonagall bristled on hearing Harry's words.

"Mr POTTER, HOW DARE YOU…" started McGonagall but Harry interrupted her.

"YES I DARE. WHEN HAVE THE TEACHERS AT HOGWARTS EVER LISTENED TO ME SERIOUSLY?" roared Harry, but then he took a deep breath and spoke in a low and steady voice full of determination. McGonagall looked shocked at Harry's outburst.

"Professor, do you remember our first year when Ron, Hermione and I came to warn you that the sorcerer's stone might be in danger? But what did you do? You didn't take us seriously and simply shooed us out. That same night, Voldemort tried to steal the stone" remarked Harry, ignoring the gasps and flinches from everyone on hearing Voldemort's name. He continued speaking.

"Once again, I had to risk my life to save the stone, without the support of even a single teacher. During my second year, when many of you" said Harry pointing at the students "accused me of being a dark wizard and the heir of Slytherin, did you offer me any support? In my fourth year, did you punish the bullies and slanderers when they were openly wearing those stupid badges or quoting that stupid article of Skeeter? Last year, when I complained to you about Umbridge, you deducted 5 points from me and told me to keep calm but you stood up against Umbridge only when she threatened or insulted your precious Dumbledore. Let us not forget the fact that inspite of being the deputy headmistress, you never stopped Snape from unfairly treating me and all the other Non-Slytherin students even though you had the power to do so. And finally, along with Dumbledore and Hagrid, you placed me at the Dursley's footstep in the middle of the night and never looked back at me for the next 10 years to see whether I was treated well or not. So, please give me a good reason why I should give even a single ounce of respect to the teachers of Hogwarts?" said Harry with his emerald green eyes glowing with unrestrained energy.

The whole room was shocked into silence. McGonagall couldn't bear to look straight into Harry's eyes. Instead, she looked down at her feet. Harry's points made a lot of sense, when she thought about it. She had failed him quite miserably and he had every reason to not trust the teachers after everything that had happened to him.

"Professor, I am a Potter and Potters are born to fight against injustice by overcoming all odds against them, as Sirius explained to me quite clearly. I don't care about silly rules, outdated laws or useless customs. If I see any innocent person in danger, I will rush to rescue them. You can expel me if you want, you can even have my wand snapped and I don't even give a damn if you somehow have me arrested and sent to Azkaban. I will NEVER STOP FIGHTING AGAINST INJUSTICE AND EVIL" said Harry and immediately walked back to his dormitory, leaving an absolutely pin-drop shocked silence in his wake.

**Author's Note: That ends the 5****th**** chapter. Hope everyone like it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**In the Headmaster's office (2 days later, at 9 AM in the morning)**

"Come in Harry" said Dumbledore tiredly.

Harry entered non-chalantly and seated himself on the chair.

"Harry, I have been observing that you have been displaying a quite reckless and rebellious attitude as of late. 5 days back, you openly refused to do detention with Professor Snape after he rightfully gave you detention for almost killing young and innocent Mr Malfoy with a dark curse. Then, you went along with Shacklebolt as a part of some vigilante organization, and risked your life without informing any one of us. Then, you came back and shouted at poor Minerva for reprimanding you. Can you care to enlighten this old man as to why you are behaving this way?" asked Dumbledore sternly.

Harry just sighed and looked intently at Dumbledore before replying.

"Professor, what you refer to as a rebellious and reckless attitude is nothing but me standing up for myself against all odds. I am willing to risk my life and do anything to be victorious against the deatheaters. Meanwhile, this young and innocent Mr Malfoy almost killed Katie Bell and my friend Ron, while pursuing his foolish attempts to kill you. He had taken the dark mark this past year and now is a full fledged deatheater. Even though it was not my intention to make him bleed badly, I have absolutely no regrets in cursing him" said Harry.

"Harry, please let go of this hatred and unbridled rage. It won't do any good for you. I know that Malfoy has been forced to become a deatheater and is being pressured into performing this task of killing me, so that his family doesn't suffer. You don't need to worry about all that. Severus is handling that matter for me" said Dumbledore with finality.

Harry snorted.

"Professor, has this esteemed Professor Snape told you what one should do to gain the dark mark?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"One is usually tasked with commiting either murder or rape of new born muggle or muggleborn children. Only then one will be worthy of the dark mark. But it seems our resident spy failed to inform you of this fact just as he didn't inform you about the existence of Carnal Delights" said Harry snarkily.

"Harry, I don't know where you got this false information, but it is not true. Professor Snape has my complete trust and he is no more a deatheater than I am. Even if he has done some abominable activities in the past, I am sure that he repents for them now. With some efforts, I am sure that I will also make Draco Malfoy see the error of his ways and bring him to the light. As far as Carnal Delights is concerned, it is possible that Professor Snape didn't know about this or else he would have told me" said Dumbledore.

"So, it does not matter if this Draco Malfoy is planning to bring some deatheaters into the castle also?" asked Harry.

Now, Dumbledore looked slightly concerned.

"What do you mean?" asked Dumbledore.

"Malfoy has been trying to repair the broken vanishing cabinet on the 7 the floor. It's twin is at Borgin and Burkes. Once it is repaired, Malfoy plans to bring a dozen deatheaters to the castle in his attempt to kill you. While Malfoy may not be a threat for you, the other students and teachers in the castle will be threatened by the deatheaters, who have no hesitation in casting unforgivables at children" remarked Harry.

Dumbledore pondered over Harry's words before replying.

"I have not heard of this. But even if this is true, I am not that concerned. Severus will handle this issue as well" said Dumbledore non-chalantly.

"Unbelievable" shouted Harry. "Do you even care about anyone of us or are we all chess-pieces for you? You are practically willing to sacrifice the safety of the students just in the vain hope that Malfoy could be reformed. And, you have delegated this job to Snape, of all people. That is even more laughable" said Harry.

Dumbledore's twinkle dimmed on hearing Harry's words and his face was replaced by a mask of fury.

"That's enough Harry. I have placed order members and some aurors as security all around the castle, just in case the deatheaters come in. Do not ever suggest that I don't take the safety of my students sincerely" said Dumbledore with a hint of warning in his tone.

"Oh yeah, even if there is the whole of the auror force stationed at Hogwarts, can you guarantee that no student lives will be lost when deatheaters start coming in. Because, our aurors and your order members use only piteous stunners whereas those deatheaters won't hesitate to use the unforgivable and other lethal curses. And you have the gall to talk about student's safety after what you have been doing for the past 5 years" said Harry looking back at Dumbledore intently.

"What do you mean Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

"During my first year, you placed the sorcerer's stone, a true magnet for thieves and dark wizards craving for immortality in a school full of children. You even announced during the opening feast that anyone who wishes to avoid a painful death should avoid the 3rd floor corridor. Even a simpleton knows that such bland statements would make children, especially people like Fred and George, even more curious. And, you didn't place any wards or protections near that door in the third floor which housed a cerebrus. And those traps which you placed around the sorcerer's stone were so damn easy that even first years like me, Ron and Hermione could pass through them. Why didn't you just place the sorcerer's stone under a fidelius charm or else, in your own office or pocket? After all, Voldemort wouldn't dare to duel you using Quirell's body" said Harry.

Dumbledore had no answer to any of Harry's queries.

"During my second year", Harry continued "why didn't you close the school and send the students home when you knew very well that there was a hidden monster inside the school that was capable of petrifying and killing children. Didn't you care about the safety of the children then?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore looked down at his feet in shame.

"What is ironical here is that the 12 year old Hermione was able to figure out the secret of the chamber of secrets quite easily whereas you, who was present for the first time when the chamber was opened didn't even manage to get a clue. That means that you are either highly incompetent or else you had an ulterior motive, which means you knew about the whole thing. So, for my 1st two years at Hogwarts, I was forced to face Voldemort at the end of the year and after doing that, you would arrive at the end twinkling your eyes at me as if you were expecting all of this to happen, say some lofty words about love or forgiveness which I couldn't understand, give some points for breaking rules and send me back to the abusive dursleys as a perfect reward. Now, I definitely sense something fishy going on here" stated Harry.

Dumbledore definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He tried to give a reply but couldn't find the required words. He was too shocked.

"During my third year, I admit that you had no choice but to let the dementors in because that idiotic Fudge was so stubborn. And, I am indeed grateful to you for saving my life during that Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match. But, you did a great disservice to Sirius by refusing to address the matter of his innocence in front of the Wizengamot, even though you were the chief warlock and had sufficient influence to at least secure a trial for him. Why wasn't Sirius given a trial when even scum like Bellatrix Lestrange got one? And, you irresponsibly gave the time turner to both me and Hermione and told us to rescue Sirius against all odds. You could also have come with us. Then, with your immense experience and power, we could have captured Pettigrew also without any hassles" said Harry.

Dumbledore was now fiddling with his thumbs. His mind was trying to come up with suitable answers that would satisfy this Harry, who was no longer naïve or gullible. He was hesitant to give diplomatic half-truths, because now Harry was smart enough to see through him .

"During my fourth year, you were a part of the committee that decided to host the triwizard tournament that year at Hogwarts. What were you thinking when you made that stupid decision? That tournament was discontinued for the right reasons. That tournament was despicable not just because of the immense death toll, but also because of the immense cruelty meted out to the mother dragons who were inhumanely chained and whose precious eggs were deliberately placed in danger. Moreover, the tournament which was supposed to promote harmony and cooperation amongst the 3 competing schools did not achieve it's objective at all. Instead, it just sowed the seeds of unhealthy competition, envy and in worst cases, enmity amongst the students. In fact, it created friction between even Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, the 2 houses which were always on friendly terms with each other"

Dumbledore pondered over Harry's words and found them to be reasonable. However, his ego didn't allow him to acknowledge Harry's opinion.

"Sir, I can forgive you for not recognizing your old friend Mad-eye throughout the year, even though he had been your friend for 40 years. After all, you saved me once again when he was about to kill me at the end of the year, for which I am indeed very grateful to you sir. That Barty Crouch Junior was an amazing Oscar-winning actor who had managed to fool even his own father before he was caught for torturing longbottoms. But, what I don't understand is that, why didn't you announce to the school body that I didn't put my name into the Goblet? And, why didn't you take action against those students who were slandering me by wearing those badges or quoting that false article from Rita? Just a word from you would have cleared up so many of my problems that year, since many people consider your word as the word of the Almighty"

Dumbledore kept quiet wisely. Harry's sharp questions were hitting him quite accurately and he didn't have any satisfactory answers to give back.

"Last year, Dolores Umbridge tortured me and so many others using the blood quills" said Harry before showing that part of his hand where the words 'I must not tell lies' were engraved. Dumbledore paled on seeing this.

"That vile woman admitted to sending dementors after me. She made so many stupid educational decrees to harass the students and teachers here. Where were you then?" asked Harry.

"Harry, you know very well that she was sent by the ministry and I couldn't do anything about her" said Dumbledore.

"Is that so Professor? Last year, when Umbridge caught me after Edgecombe cheated on our group, you took the blame yourself and easily overcame Fudge, Umbridge and two aurors to easily escape. Sir, you have mentioned before that you cannot overrule the ministry but in my opinion, you are quite capable of that, but you don't have the will-power to do so. If you had placed Fudge under the imperius, we would have had a minister who was trying his level best to contain the threat of the resurgent Voldemort. Instead, you just simply allowed him to malign yours and my name throughout the year" said Harry.

"See Harry, I admit that I have made many mistakes in the past, many of which have badly affected you. But I am a human being, not an omniscient flawless God. Whatever I have done is for the greater good" said Dumbledore.

"I never said that you are an omniscient flawless God sir. And, whose Greater good are you talking about? I admit that as human beings, all of us make mistakes but are you trying to justify your mistakes in the name of this greater good. Because, that is what Gellert Grindelwald did, if I remember correctly" said Harry.

On hearing the name of Grindelwald, Dumbledore's eyes dimmed and he was suddenly overcome by immense sadness.

"Sir, you might have done many good things for the wizarding world in the past. But, now you are doing a big disservice to the students by allowing Draco Malfoy to carry out his plans. If you really wanted to reform Draco Malfoy, you should have done it earlier. You had 5 years to do so. But now, since he has begun his life as a deatheater, he has to be put down by any means for the safety of others. So, I request you to do your duty as the headmaster of Hogwarts and expel him from Hogwarts, and have him arrested for the crime of being associated with deatheaters and carrying the dark mark" said Harry.

"I am afraid, I can't do that Harry" said Dumbledore sadly.

"If you don't do that, I would be glad to contact Minister Scrimgeour who would be glad to have Malfoy arrested. After all, that man is eager to show to the public that he is doing something. So, he wouldn't mind arresting a real deatheater for a change after I mention to him what things a person must do to take the dark mark. I already know of someone who would testify to my claims about the dark mark" said Harry, thinking of Daphne.

"Harry, are you trying to blackmail me? I could have you arrested for this. Don't think that with you being the chosen one in the prophecy, I would allow you to do anything that you please" thundered Dumbledore.

"Yes, I am blackmailing you professor. Feel free to have me arrested. Once I am taken to the wizengamot, I wouldn't mind revealing the contents of the prophecy to everyone. I will also tell everyone about the horcruxes and everything about your manipulations in my life. I will tell them about how I was forced to endure an abusive childhood at the Dursleys all thanks to you placing me in their doorstep when I was one and half years old. I will tell them about how you knew that Sirius was not the secret keeper and still allowed him to suffer. I will mention to them about your likely ulterior motives behind sending me to the Dursleys, against my parents' wishes" said Harry.

"And, please don't even think of obliviating me Professor" said Harry smirking, when Dumbledore raised his wand. "I have already relayed all this information to two trustworthy persons, who are definitely neither Ron & Hermione, nor anyone in your order" mentioned Harry, thinking of Daphne and Sirius.

Then, Harry suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his mind as though he was being X-Rayed by Dumbledore's penetrating blue eyes.

"Oh ho, now are you resorting to active leglimency on Minors like me Dumbledore? You know that doing such a thing carries an automatic 10 year sentence at Azkaban. Right? And, the wizengamot will definitely believe me when I willingly take veritaserum and tell everyone that you were trying to mind-rape me, just as Snape was doing throughout last year in the guise of Occlumency lessons. Since then, I have learnt Occlumency from better teachers who have taught me in a much more professional manner. So, are you willing to risk that?" asked Harry, feeling immensely grateful to Daphne and Sirius for providing him some level of Occlumency training.

Dumbledore paled on hearing Harry's threats. Harry truly had him cornered and he really needed Harry for the purpose of defeating Voldemort.

"Very well, what do you want me to do?" asked Dumbledore in a tired voice.

Harry rejoiced internally.

"That's the spirit Professor. Now, you will immediately floo the DMLE office as well as the office of the minister of magic. Tell them to come here immediately so that they could apprehend a deatheater. By tonight, I want Draco Malfoy to be expelled from Hogwarts and be behind the bars of the ministry holding cells. Now, I have so much of work to do. So, please excuse me" said Harry before storming out of the room, leaving a stricken and flustered Dumbledore behind.

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The same afternoon, The students at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardary were having lunch in peace. But suddenly, the doors of the great hall flew open to reveal 4 aurors, Kingsley Shacklebolt amongst them. Kingsley gave Harry a small smile which Harry returned.

Harry watched in anticipation as they marched upto Draco Malfoy. Then for the next few minutes, everyone in the great hall watched the conversation that seemed to be taking place between the head-auror and Malfoy.

That quiet was interrupted by Malfoy who screamed "WHAT? I am not a deatheater".

At that moment, Snape and Dumbledore rushed to the Slytherin table.

Dumbledore looked tired and resigned, but Snape was beside himself.

"What is the meaning of this Mr Robards?" asked Snape addressing the head auror. "How dare you come here and arrest one of my slytherins just like that?" asked Snape rudely.

"Professor Snape, we have received information that Mr Draco Malfoy took the dark mark this summer and that he was awarded this mark only when he murdered an innocent muggle child named Bobby, who was just 2 years old. We were informed that Mr Malfoy has been plotting the death of the headmaster since the last July, and that he was responsible for the near deaths of Ron Weasley and Katie Bell. So, Minister Scrimgeour has given us the authority to arrest him pending investigation" said head auror Gawain Robards curtly, in a professional voice.

"All the information that you received is a big bunch of lies. Young Draco here will never do such things. This is obviously a ploy to frame and malign him" snarled Snape.

Then, suddenly Snape's attention fell on Potter. Pointing his shaking finger at Potter, he roared "POTTER! THIS IS ENTIRELY HIS FAULT. I KNOW VERY WELL THAT HE GAVE THIS FALSE INFORMATION TO YOU AURORS TO HAVE DRACO ARRESTED, JUST TO SATISFY HIS GRUDGES. HE IS AN ATTENTION SEEKING DETERMINED RULE BREAKER AND AS ARROGANT AS HIS FATHER. JUST DON'T BELIEVE A WORD OF WHAT HE SAYS" roared Snape spittle flying out of this mouth. He looked completely deranged.

The aurors, professors and the students assembled there gasped at Sanpe's words. The aurors were too shocked that Harry Potter was simply being accused without any proof, but the students and professors weren't that much surprised. The animosity between Harry Potter and Severus Snape was quite well known. But that didn't stop most people in the Gryffindor table, a few people in the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables from glowering at Snape.

Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna were glaring daggers at Snape and Daphne looked as if she wanted to castrate Snape at that instant. The expression on her face was absolutely murderous.

"Control yourself Professor Snape. You simply can't accuse Mr Potter without proof" said Auror Shacklebolt, who was also looking quite displeased with Snape as were professors Sprout and Flitwick. Dumbledore simply looked at Snape with pity and disappointment.

Then, chuckles could be heard from the Gryffindor table. Everyone turned around and were surprised to see that they were coming from Harry Potter himself. The chuckles soon turned into a full blown laughter which made the whole hall gape at him in stunned silence. Ron and Hermione were looking at him as if he had lost his mind. Everyone were expecting him to get angry and blow steam but he was simply laughing.

Finally, Malfoy couldn't take it any longer.

"What is so funny Potter?" asked Malfoy angrily.

Harry slowly sobered himself before replying.

"Hey Malfoy, I am not insulting you at all. I was just admiring how fierce and loyal your head of the house is in regards to defending you, just like a rabid dog. He doesn't need any proof to accuse me of wrongdoing. Even if he has some difficulty in shitting his greasy stool, even if he slips on a banana peel and falls on his greasy buttocks, and even if he lets out enormous greasy farts accidentally, he is likely to blame me for that, because I have committed the crime of simply existing" said Harry.

Many people tittered on hearing about greasy farts. Snape clenched his jaw furiously.

"Just the fact that I look like my dear father is enough for him to brand me as a pampered attention seeking prince. Never mind the fact that I was raised up in an abusive household for the first 10 years of my life where I was made to live in a cupboard under the stairs" stated Harry.

Harry's bland statement at the end got horrified gasps from the majority of the people in the hall including some professors. Tears were flowing from Daphne's, Hermione's and Luna's eyes. Many people who were thinking that the boy who lived had led a luxurious life were shattered internally on hearing this statement. Some were still in denial and believed that Potter was making this up to stir up sympathy for him.

"I was just thinking about what my mom would think if she knew that our dear potions master is so blindly accusing me without proof. Ah I forgot, she was your best friend Professor. Nah nah, wasn't she the only friend that you had in your childhood? I wonder how she would have reacted had she known that you have been ill-treating her son for the past 5 years, simply because that son looks exactly like her beloved husband" said Harry, now directly addressing Snape now who paled dramatically when Harry mentioned Lily's name.

The majority of the students, especially in Slytherin were shocked that Harry's mom was Snape's childhood friend. Some blood purists in Slytherin and other houses were disgusted that Snape befriended a mudblood.

Snape suddenly recovered from his shock and glared ferociously at Harry.

"HOW DARE YOU BRING LILY INTO THIS? LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS POTTER" roared Snape.

"Address her properly Snape. She is Mrs Potter to you. She was my mother, who made the right decision to ditch you and marry my father who was a much better man than you will ever be. You hate my dad and you were my mother's best friend, as Sirius mentioned to me some time back. So, it is not so hard to connect the dots and infer that you had a crush on her.

Anyway Snape, hating me and accusing me without proof won't endear yourself to my mother, who I know is always watching over me from somewhere in the afterlife" said Harry.

Snape looked penetratingly at Harry and send a leglimency probe, to find out what Harry knew.

Harry detected the probe immediately and sent a mental reply.

"_Don't try to intrude on my privacy, you greasy bastard. I know very well that you tried to mind-rape me last year, you sick twisted double-agent. Dumbledore won't do anything to me because I am far too useful for him now. So stay away from my way in future, because if you won't do so, I will immediately contact minister Scrimgeour and using my influence as the boy-who-lived, do my best to get you prosecuted for your crimes. The wizengamot will definitely favour the chosen one more than an ex-deatheater who escaped justice due to Dumbledore's mercy. The wizengamot will not care that you are a double agent and that you are working for Dumbledore, once I fill the pockets of those members and the minister with galleons from the black family vault. Moreover, I don't need a reason to get your infamous history as a deatheater and your humiliation in the hands of my dad to get published in the Quibbler magazine, which has a large readership now" said Harry mentally._

Then, Harry broke the probe and smirked at Snape who gulped as if he had just swallowed a lemon. He glared hatefully at Harry but didn't dare open his mouth. Then, Harry turned to the aurors who were watching the showdown with interest.

"Yes, it is indeed I who gave this information to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore was unwilling to have Draco Malfoy arrested, but I eventually convinced him of its necessity. Moreover, I have further proof of Malfoy's wrongdoings. If you go to the 7th floor near the broken vanishing cabinet, you will find Malfoy's fingerprints all over it. That cabinet is connected to the one in Borgin and Burkes. Malfoy had been planning to repair it since the beginning of the year. Once it was repaired, he was planning to bring deatheaters into the castle who wouldn't have had any qualms in shooting unforgivable at innocent children. If you have any doubts regarding my claims, you can go to the 7th floor and check it out. You may visit Borgin and Burkes and verify my claims if you wish. You will find them to be true" said Harry.

Malfoy was gaping at him wordlessly.

Then, the aurors dragged Malfoy away to the 7th floor and around 15 minutes later, they verified that Malfoy had indeed been using the broken cabinet using fingerprint spells. They then dragged Malfoy away, who was screaming dire threats all the way.

Once the drama got over, Harry went back to his lunch.

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**In the Room of Requirement (That evening, 7 pm)**

"Harry, that was simply brilliant. Thank you sooo much. Now, the marriage contract that I had with Malfoy will be nullified because he will be sent to Azkaban, which will activate the escape clause in the contract. Thank God, I will not have to put up with that blond idiot anymore" said Daphne smiling at him.

"Hey Daph, we are friends. Not just friends, but the best of friends. And, best friends don't say thank you to each other formally" said Harry grinning.

"Then, what do they do?" asked Daphne.

In reply, Harry hugged her and planted a kiss on her cheek. Daphne was shocked by Harry's actions and couldn't stop the blush from appearing on her face. Hesitantly, she hugged him back.

A Reluctant grin appeared on her face. This hug and the kiss from him just felt so amazing. She couldn't help but smile at him for activating her hormones.

"Isn't it so amazing that both of us are from 2 houses that have a great enmity with each other. You are the cunning Slytherin Ice Princess and I am just just a poor, daring Gryffindor. Yet, we are getting along with each other quite well" said Harry casually.

"That's because the houses are simply labels and don't mean anything. I like you immensely as a person Harry. Your chivalry and daring is something which I admire a lot. I don't think it is stupid. Meanwhile, you occasionally show sneakiness and cunning that would have made even Salazar Slytherin proud" said Daphne

"What if I said to you that the Sorting hat had originally considered sorting me into Slytherin?" said Harry smirking.

Daphne was stupefied.

"Really Harry? Wow, then we would have been in the same house for 6 years and been friends sooner" said Daphne surprised.

"Yeah, but unfortunately I trusted Hagrid's word too much when he mentioned that only dark wizards came from Slytherin. And I didn't want to get anywhere near Malfoy who had been sorted into Slytherin first" said Harry regretfully.

"Harry, it is not correct. While I admit that Slytherin house has become quite evil now, thanks to the Hypocritical Dork Lord, it was not always so. There have been dark wizards from other houses too and the students who get sorted into Slytherin during 1st year are ordinary innocent students who are just afraid of their family members" said Daphne

"You are right Daph. I wonder what the others would think if they come to know that we are meeting each other in secret. I am finding it difficult day by day to conceal our secret friendship to my friends. Hermione is becoming increasingly suspicious of me" said Harry.

"Harry, we will reveal our friendship openly soon, if that is what you prefer. I would love to see the expression on everyone's faces when they see a Gryffindor and a Slytherin together. That would be a sight to behold" said Daphne smiling.

Both of them laughed openly when they imagined the looks of shock in everyone's faces.

"Well, we will meet again tomorrow then. Until then. See you. Bye" said Harry waving at her as he started walking back to the Gryffindor dorms.

"Bye Harry. Take care" said Daphne smiling back.

Harry went back to the Gryffindor tower. However, as soon as he reached the tower, he immediately saw Ron and Hermione who were watching him intently. Ron was looking somewhat angry.

"Where were you Harry?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"Umm… Just went for a walk" said Harry non-chalantly.

"Oh yeah, walking? Your name just disappeared from the map for about an hour. I was worried about you and went to check where you had been. It so happens that while I was checking the 7th floor, I just happened to saw you in the Room of Requirement hugging Daphne Greengrass of all people. I couldn't believe it at all. Why would you be even near that ice-bitch? She is a cruel woman who hexes people's bits for fun. What were you thinking Harry? And now, when I ask you something, you are lying to me. You even shouted back at Professor McGonagall a few days back when she rightfully reprimanded you and you have been showing a lot of disrespect to all the professors since the past few days. What is wrong with you Harry?" shouted Hermione.

Harry mentally cursed himself for not asking the room of requirement to keep their meeting place a secret. That is why Hermione could easily walk in while he and Daphne were talking. But Hermione's harsh words about Daphne immensely angered him. Added to that, was the fact that she and Ron had been using the map to spy on him, without his permission.

Harry closed his eyes, took a deep breath before replying to Hermione.

"What is wrong with me? Both of you stole my map without asking for my permission and used that to spy on me and then you ask me is wrong with me? What is wrong with you Hermione? Since when did you start stealing my things and spying on me? What I do in my spare time is none of your business. You should learn to respect my privacy. And for your information, Daphne is my very good friend. She is not an ice bitch and doesn't simply hex others bits for fun. She is an amazing, wonderful and loyal woman with excellent sense of humour and I won't tolerate any insult against her" said Harry firmly.

"But she is a Slytherin Harry and everybody knows that Slytherins are evil people and most of them are deatheaters in training. You can't even trust any of them , and you are even thinking of befriending a snake. Have you gone mad?" asked Ron angrily.

"Ron, you are a very good friend of mine and as a friend, I should ask you to stop labeling people just like Malfoy does. Just because Daphne is in Slytherin doesn't make her an evil person. Not all Slytherins are evil, just like not all Gryffindors are good. Does the name Peter Pettigrew ring any bells in your head? Because, as far as I know, that traitorous rat was in Gryffindor" asked Harry

"Oh yeah Harry, it is obvious that she has put some imperius curse on you, because the Harry that I knew would never defend Slytherins like that" said Ron snarkily.

"Ron is right Harry. There is something quite wrong with you. I have been observing you for the past so many days. There is a lot of change in your attitude and behavior. That ice bitch is surely poisoning your mind" said Hermione firmly

"Hermione, don't you dare call her that. Just because she performs far better than you in academics doesn't make her an ice-bitch. She is an ice queen only to those who try to molest her. But from inside, she is a very warm and kind woman. Anyway, both of you know very well that I have resisted even Voldemort's imperius curse and this ring on my left hand which Sirius gave me, helps me detect any attempts to poison my mind or drug me. So, that is a flimsy excuse for violating my privacy. Just because I am your friend, doesn't give you the right to simply dictate my life. You are not my mother Hermione, so please stop acting like one" said Harry to Hermione, who wisely kept her mouth shut after seeing Harry in such a dangerous mood.

Then, Harry rounded on Ron.

"Ron, did you know that the auror Kingsley Shacklebolt is a Slytherin? And that, professor Sinistra is also a Slytherin? As far as I know, both of them are really nice people. I may not like Professor Slughorn's slug club parties, but he treats all of us like human beings and doesn't deride or demean us. He was also sorted into Slytherin. And for your information, the great merlin was also sorted into Slytherin when he attended Hogwarts. Moreover, my grand-mother Dorea was also sorted into Slytherin and so was, Andromeda, Tonk's mother. All of them are great people" said Harry.

"Your Grandmother was in Slytherin?" asked Ron in shock.

"Yes Ron, and so was your Grandmother Cedrella Black, who went on to marry Septimus Weasley, your grandfather. If fact, the sorting hat had seriously considered putting me in Slytherin. Had it not been for Malfoy, I would definitely have been sorted into Slytherin" said Harry.

This was news to both his friends who were gaping at him soundlessly.

"Please stop being bigoted. Please stop thinking in labels, just like Malfoy or Pansy Parkinson does" said Harry.

"I am not like Pansy Parkinson Harry" said Hermione shrilly.

"You and Ron are just as bigoted to Slytherins, as she is to muggleborns and non-blood purists. Last year, you were mentioning something about trying for interhouse unity or something, just because Dumbledore had mentioned it. Now, when the interhouse cooperation is actually happening between me and Daphne, why are you trying to destroy our friendship? Because, you don't know her personally, you have no right to judge Daphne. Because, I know what it feels like to be accused of something that I didn't do" said Harry, thinking about his 2nd and 4th years.

"But Harry, we are your friends. Why didn't you tell us that you and Daphne were friends?" asked Ron.

"Because, she made me promise to keep our budding friendship a secret and I respected her wishes. Now, I know that both of you are simply concerned about my well being, but I request you to please not trouble and question Daphne about her motives regarding me. She is already facing a lot of flak in her house, for refusing to join Voldemort and I don't want you to add to her troubles . If I find out that both of you have been troubling her in any way, I will stop being your friend. Is that clear?" asked Harry firmly.

Hermione and Ron nodded dumbly at him, not wishing to provoke Harry any further. The way in which Harry had shouted at McGonagall had really scared them and they didn't want to needlessly anger him.

"Good. Well then, I am going to read the half blood prince book before we go to the Great Hall for Dinner" said Harry before marching off to his dorms.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Here is the seventh chapter. Hope everyone likes it.**

"Avada kedavra" shouted Sirius, and the green jet of light hit the horcrux locket which gave a horrible scream before getting destroyed.

Sirius lay down tired on the floor after doing this. The revelations that Kreacher gave him today had totally changed his opinion about Regulus. His poor brother had actually tried to fight against Voldemort before dying. Sirius felt immensely guilty that he had always scorned or looked down upon Regulus.

"Is master Sirius all right?" asked Kreacher concerned.

Sirius looked at Kreacher. The elf's attitude towards Sirius had shown a tremendous improvement once Sirius had patiently heard Kreacher's tale and promised the elf to destroy this locket and fulfill regulus's last wish.

"Yes, I am all right Kreacher" said Sirius tiredly. Kreacher nodded and popped away.

Sirius then took out his mirror and whispered "Harry"

Immediately Harry's and Daphne's faces came into view. Both of them were there in the Room of Requirement.

"Hi Padfoot" chorused both of them

"Hey, I just called you to tell you a very good news. I have managed to destroy the locket horcrux. The thing is, a few months back, while roaming around the Grimmauld place, I saw Mundungus trying to steal some black family heirlooms and Kreacher trying to stop him. I had stunned and obliviated the thief, and sent him away which had obviously improved the elf's attitude towards me. Among those things, I did see a locket with the engraving of a serpent. Once you had told me of your memory trip with Dumbledore where Tom Riddle murdered Hepzibah smith and took away that locket and cup, don't you remember that I had asked you about the exact specifications of that locket?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, you did. But I wondered why" said Harry.

"The thing is, it so happened that the very same locket was lying in the Grimmauld place for a very long time. You had even touched it once" said Sirius.

Harry was shell-shocked on hearing this.

Sirius then proceeded to tell them about Kreacher's tale, how Regulus had switched loyalties and tried to destroy that horcrux, about how the inferi had captured him and how in his dying moments, he had instructed Kreacher to somehow destroy the locket, about how Sirius had finally persuaded Kreacher to tell the full story and how he had destroyed it using the killing curse.

"This is brilliant Sirius. So, one more horcrux down. That leaves the cup, something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's, Nagini and finally Voldemort himself" said Harry.

"Hey guys, I have been thinking something. Voldemort entrusted his precious diary horcrux to Lucius Malfoy. So, it is possible that he might have entrusted his other horcruxes to some other deatheaters. And, Bellatrix Lestrange was probably his most favourite deatheater. My parents told me this" explained Daphne.

"Yeah that is possible. But we can come to know of this only if we catch hold of Bellatrix, which is almost next to impossible" said Sirius.

"Hey, I have a plan for that. By the way, we had discussed about vigilantism on the deatheaters right. The plan I am going to tell you will satisfy both these objectives. We can find out the locations of so many deatheaters including Bellatrix's" said Harry as he explained the plan to Sirius and Daphne. Both of them were delighted with this idea, especially Sirius.

"Let's do it tonight" said Harry.

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Severus Snape was sitting in his quarters seething with anger. The arrogant brat Potter had somehow got his godson Draco arrested and moreover, publicily insulted him in front of the entire school. The brat was even worse than James Potter. Suddenly, he heard a hated voice which he had not heard for a long time.

"Snivellus"

Snape turned around and saw the grinning face of his enemy, Sirius Black.

Shock rippled through him. How could this be possible? Was he hallucinating? But Black was dead right? But before he could contemplate on what he could do further, he felt his wand ripped off from his hand and then a jet of red light hit him on the face and he fell down unconscious.

When he woke up, he was tied to the wall with strong ropes. Snape tried to struggle but the ropes were too tight. He slowly opened his eyes and saw three people staring at him: Black, Potter and Miss Greengrass.

Anger overcame his shock soon. He was enraged that they had dared to tie him up like this.

"Release me at once bastards. Or else, I will ensure that all of you arrested for this. Miss Greengrass, I never knew that you associated with such sort of vermin" said Snape sneering at her.

"You are not in a position to make threats Snape. The only vermin here in this room is you. And don't bother shouting for help. I have cast muffliato over this room, one of your own spells" said Harry.

"Surprised to see me alive Snivellus? After all, you had purposefully delayed informing the order after Harry and his friends went in search of me to the Department of Mysteries right? Last year, you always insulted me in my own house and frequently mocked me that I am of no use to the order and blah blah. I remember how you tried your level best to get a rise out of me hoping that I would do something reckless and end up in trouble again. I may be a reckless mutt but I am not brainless. You must have forgotten that I was raised in one of the darkest houses in the entire Britain. I knew very well the mind games that you tried to play with me. But unfortunately Snivellus, that didn't work out. You might have temporarily rejoiced that you somehow indirectly got me killed last year, but Wormtail is not the only one who knows how to fake his own death" said Sirius.

"What do you want mutt?" said Snape gritting his teeth.

"We want all information that you have regarding Voldemort and his deatheaters, like where are the hideouts of deatheaters, their locations, the wards on their properties. Also, you should tell us about Voldemort's long term and short term plans, whether he is likely to conduct any raids or attacks in nearby areas, and so on. You can either tell us of your own free will or else, we will have to use force" said Daphne.

"And you have to give us full information. Not the half-baked incomplete information that Voldemort tells you to give Dumbledore" said Harry sternly.

Snape struggled against his bonds.

"You filthy arrogant bastards, I will not tell you anything nor can you force me to tell anything. Veritaserum and leglimency will not work on me because I am a master occlumens and I take antidotes for veritaserum everyday. There is nothing that you can make me reveal. None of you have the guts to persuade me" said Snape sneering at them.

"Well, I should say that I am feeling sorry for you, but I can't say that because I really don't" said Harry before pointing his wand at Snape and shouting "Crucio".

Snape screamed like hell. It was pain beyond anything which Snape had ever experienced. Even the Dark Lord's cruciatus curse was mild as compared to this. It seemed as if the full extent of Potter's hatred for him was focused on making him suffer.

"I see what Bellatrix meant. You have to really mean it" snarled Harry.

Daphne took advantage of Snape's weakness to launch a complete leglimency attack on Snape. Since, Snape was struggling with Harry's cruciatus curse, he couldn't raise his occlumency shields properly. Daphne flitted through his memories with ease and after some time found everything that she was looking for.

By then, Snape was reduced to a blubbering mess who couldn't even spell words properly.

Daphne extracted herself from Snape's mind and felt like vomiting. The things that Snape had done during his stint as a deatheater nearly made her vomit. Not only that, she had learnt so many shocking things, one of them was regarding Harry.

"What did you see Daphne?" asked Harry in a worried tone.

"He killed a muggle to earn the earn the dark mark, he assisted in the death of Dorcas Meadows and he was the one who told Voldemort of the prophecy that day due to which Voldemort targeted your parents. He told Voldemort to spare your mother so that he could have her for himself. He thinks he is smart enough to act as a double agent and just side with whoever the victor is. Snape is not loyal to anyone but himself. He is taking advantage of Dumbledore's penchant to give million chances to stay out of legal troubles. And, I have gained the locations of at least 5 deatheaters from his mind, including Bellatrix Lestrange" said Daphne.

Harry and Sirius growled with rage on hearing these facts, especially the fact that Snape was the one who had informed Voldemort of the prophecy.

Both of them looked at each other for a second and then came to a mental understanding.

Both of them raised their wands simultaneously and pointing them to Snape shouted "Avada kedavra".

The twin jets of Green light struck Snape and Snape fell down lifeless.

Daphne then proceeded to transfigure Snape into a bone and put it in her pocket.

"Let's go guys. Our job is over. I have all the information which we need" said Daphne.

**Author's Note: That's all for today folks. Hope everyone liked this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: This is the eighth chapter. Hope everyone likes it.**

It was late in the evening when the sun was about to set. A thin, gaunt woman was walking along the streets of a muggle village, accompanied by her four accomplices who were wearing masks. The village was hosting a small fun fair where a large gathering was present. The residents of this village and the people attending this funfair were yet unaware of the sinister intention of these masked people, of the havoc that they were planning to do.

"Let's begin the fun. Shall we?" asked Alecto grinning maniacally.

"Yeah, why not? Today, we will play with some filthy muggles and wipe them off from the planet. There will be some decrease in the number of vermin tonight" answered Amycus grinning sadistically.

The three junior deatheaters who were standing behind laughed in anticipation. Today was their first raid and their chance to earn the dark mark.

Alecto fired an explosion spell at the ground nearby which made a big gong-like noise. The 2 muggles who were standing nearby were blasted off their feet due to the impact of the explosion, and died instantly.

This noise of the explosion had alerted the crowd and they began running here and there in panic.

"Ooh, it is so nice to see these vermin panicking in fear. Well, they should be afraid of us. After all, we are superior to them and they should be under our subjugation. Right Boys?" said Alecto, before casting a cruciatus curse at a muggle lady who started screaming.

The three boys nodded sycophantically before they began casting killing curses at random.

2 more muggles became unfortunate victims of these killing curses.

Amycus fired an entrails expelling curse at a small kid but before the orange jet of light hit the small kid, it was reflected off a magical shield. Amycus was forced to dodge his own curse. He turned around to see Harry Potter who was looking at him with a dangerous expression on his face.

"Potter" snarled Amycus before firing a cruciatus at him, which Harry ducked before returning fire with a bone shattering curse that Amycus was forced to block. The deatheater snarled angrily and started firing a barrage of hexes which Potter was forced to defend against. In this way, the duel continued with neither side gaining an advantage over the other.

On the other side, Alecto had just fired a killing curse at a small girl, but before the curse could hit that girl, it was intercepted by a granite block which was suddenly conjured out of nowhere. The block broke off into many pieces which were banished back to Alecto who was forced to raise a shield to protect herself. She looked up to see Daphne Greengrass who had a murderous expression on her face, as she stood protectively in front of the little girl.

"Greengrass, how dare you run away from your family? You have shamed your family by renouncing our Dark Lord. You are nothing but a filthy blood-traitor" snarled Alecto.

"Oh just shut up, you murdering, psychotic bitch. I will never follow that half-blooded bastard with daddy issues who has some delusions of grandeur and whom you address as your master. You people shamelessly bow down to that psychopathic maniac who was born of an unholy love potioned union between a frustrated squib and an unsuspecting muggle, and yet you claim to be upstanding purebloods. You people are the real blood traitors" shouted Daphne.

"HOW DARE OF SPEAK OF OUR LORD IN SUCH A DISRESPECTFUL MANNER?" screamed Alecto.

"I will speak about him in whatever way I wish, you sycophantic vermin" said Daphne coolly

Alecto was enraged and sent an organ liquefying curse at Daphne who raised an aegis shield, an advanced version of the protego, to absorb the energy of the curse. Then, Daphne wandlessly manipulated that energy to raise thin sharp ice spikes which she sent barreling at Alecto. Alecto was forced to block those spikes using a conjured physical shield. Yet the impact of these projectiles was so high that she staggered backwards. Daphne took advantage of her distraction and started sending a series of borderline dark curses at Alecto, who was forced to be on the defensive against the irate witch.

On the other side, Sirius had disillusioned himself and was busy casting shielding charms to protect the innocent muggles from the flying curses. He then erected a magical barrier around the duellers by carving runes into the ground, in addition to anti apparition and anti portkey barriers, to prevent the deatheaters from escaping.

Meanwhile, Kingsley was engaged in combat against three junior deatheaters all at once. The tough auror proved to be too much for the three inexperienced combatants who were stunned after 5 minutes. Kingsley fired three bone shattering curses at their wand hands, took away their wands, and created a portkey that transported them to the ministry premises, along with a written note listing their crimes.

Kingsley and Sirius then proceeded to help Harry and Daphne to overpower their opponents. The two on one battle proved to be too much for Alecto and Amycus and soon they were stunned and bound.

But at the same time, the temperature in the area suddenly dropped. Harry looked up to see around dementors swarming the area. He slowly began to hear his mother's screams pleading for mercy. Thinking about the happiest times with his Godfather and the fun that he had with Daphne recently, Harry shouted "Expecto Patronum". Immediately, a bright effulgent stag erupted from his wand and began charging the dementors.

His companions also shouted the patronus charms and soon the stag was joined by Sirius's dog and Kingsley's lynx. But Daphne was able to produce only a mist.

"Come on Daphne, you can do it. Think about the happiest memories in your life, think about those moments where you felt loved and do it" shouted Harry in encouragement.

"I can't do it Harry. I am not good enough" said Daphne in despair. The dementors were beginning to affect her badly.

While controlling his patronus, Harry suddenly engulfed her in a kiss. This sudden action shocked Daphne.

"Daphne, you are the most wonderful, amazing, talented and capable woman that I have ever met. I have immensely enjoyed the small moments that I have spent with you. Please do it Daph" said Harry pleadingly.

"Yes Daphne, you are one of the most talented witches that I have ever seen. And, I am very pleased that my godson has got such a wonderful friend" said Sirius encouragingly, while shooting a wink at Harry

"Yes, you can do it Miss Greengrass" said Kingsley.

Daphne had the biggest smile on her face that no one had ever seen. Brandishing her wand, she shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM". Immediately a bright tigress erupted from her wand and joined the stag, dog and the lynx.

Harry was immensely overjoyed on seeing Daphne's patronus and this made his stag go even more brighter and expand. Seeing his Godson's joy, Sirius also felt quite happier and simulataneously his dog patronus also began getting brighter and expanding. Suddenly, the stag and dog patroni became condensed. The first dementor that came into contact with both these patroni gave an unearthly scream before withering into black mist. The four of them were stunned. They had just witnessed the impossible. A dementor had been killed.

Harry and Sirius took advantage of this fact and focused on eliminating as many dementors as they could. Unearthly screams could be heard in the dusk for a few minutes. The remaining few dementors fled away as quickly as possible.

"Well that was amazing. I have never known anything that could kill a dementor. Now that both of you have killed so many dementors, the remaining dementors will be hesitant to take Voldemort's side. Instead, they would most likely prefer to remain neutral" remarked Kingsley. The three of them were too shocked to respond.

Daphne was blushing beet red after having kissed by Harry.

Soon, they broke out of their stupor and portkeyed themselves, along with Alecto and Amycus to the Black manor. After arriving at the Black manor, Amycus and Alecto were send to the dungeons where Illeana Lestrange was being kept. The four of them were hoping to extract the maximum information from the deatheaters before finishing them off.

After finishing off their work, Harry and Daphne went back to Hogwarts.

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The next few days at Hogwarts, the residents were treated to a pleasant surprise. Professor Severus Snape was missing. Wide variety of rumours and conspiracy theories began circulating around, regarding his disappearance. The most popular one was that he had been kidnapped and secretly killed by secret vigilantes. They didn't know how close to the truth they were.

Three Quarters of the school was glad that the greasy git was no longer there to torment them. Ron was especially ecstatic. Many people in Slytherin were disappointed because now there was nobody to give them extra 50 points for picking up the right ingredient for a potion. The teachers were curious about what had happened to Severus and some of them were worried that if something bad could happen to Severus, then it could happen to them too. But secretly they too were glad, because Severus was always rude, unpleasant and sarcastic.

Only one man was sincerely worried about Severus Snape and that same person called Harry to his office one afternoon, after a wait of nearly 5 days.

"Harry my boy, please have a seat" said Dumbledore his eyes twinkling.

Harry sat down warily and tightened his occlumency shields. I wouldn't do to be careless around Dumbledore.

"Harry, did you have any vision from Voldemort involving Severus Snape?" asked Dumbledore.

He was worried that Voldemort had finally learned the truth about poor Severus and disposed him off. If that happened, it would be disastrous for his plans, which were already not going so well, partly due to Harry's stubbornness.

"Not exactly Professor, though I did hear Snape's screams and saw him bound to a wall. So, it is possible that Voldemort might have tortured him" said Harry as a half-truth. Harry had after all heard Snape's screams when he had thrown the cruciatus at him, and he had been bound to a wall then.

Dumbledore stared intently at Harry and sent a leglimency probe. Harry expected this and showed Dumbledore only that part of his memory where Snape was screaming while being bound to a wall. That apparently satisfied Dumbledore because Dumbledore looked as if he had aged 100 more years.

"Alas, what I was afraid of has happened. It seems Voldemort has finally found out about Severus's true loyalties and killed him" said Dumbledore sadly. This had completely destroyed his plans of Severus killing him and thereby gaining Voldemort's full confidence. The order had lost a valuable spy. He had wanted to redeem Draco Malfoy too but Harry's stubbornness had completely foiled his plans. He had further intended for Severus to tell Harry about the Horcrux within him so that the boy could make his sacrifice. But now it seemed that it was left to himself to tell Harry about that terrible truth.

"Harry, there is something which I have to tell you. You wouldn't like this at all and you might probably hate me even further" said Dumbledore nervously.

"What is it Professor?" asked Harry.

"Harry, you remember that I had told you about the horcruxes, that even a living container could be used as a horcrux, right?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes Professor, you mentioned about Nagini there" said Harry.

"Yes Harry, but Nagini is not Voldemort's only living horcrux. That day, when Voldemort went to kill your parents, and your mother cast herself as a shield to give you the protection based on love, when Voldemort's killing curse rebounded, part of Voldemort's soul latched onto the only living soul there. You are Voldemort's Horcrux Harry. And, that horcrux is what gives you the ability to speak to snakes, gives you visions into his mind and gives you a feel of his emotions" said Dumbledore watching Harry intently.

Harry was shocked into silence. Nobody spoke for a few minutes.

"So, I have to die?" whispered Harry. Suddenly Dumbledore's actions regarding Harry made sense. Like Why Dumbledore had never trained Harry, why he had never interfered and tried to solve Harry's problems directly. Dumbledore had never intended for Harry to survive. He had always been a marked man. He felt enraged at Dumbledore for manipulating his entire life for manipulating his entire life and keeping him downtrodden but he couldn't find the energy to shout.

"Yes Harry, unfortunately you have to die in the end after destroying all the horcruxes for Voldemort to be completely destroyed. Because there is no way of destroying the horcrux without destroying the container. I understand Harry, it will get a lot of time to get used to this fact. So, why don't you go to your dorm and have a good sleep" said Dumbledore sadly.

Harry turned around dazedly to go back when Dumbledore suddenly spoke.

"And Harry, never speak to this fact to anyone, not even to Miss Granger or Mr Weasley or any of your other friends. Is that understood?" asked Dumbledore sternly.

Harry nodded dumbly not intending to keep his word.

"Very well then, off you go" said Dumbledore dismissing him.

As walked off, Dumbledore sighed a breath of relief. Having told Harry of this fact, hopefully the boy will be mellowed down and more compliant to his wishes. Thinking this, he sucked on a lemon drop and relished its taste.

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Harry didn't know where he was going. He was utterly shocked by this revelation from Dumbledore. Finally, he decided to go to the room of requirement and when he reached there, he called Dobby.

"The great master Harry potter called?" asked Dobby, but Dobby suddenly saw Harry looking very depressed.

"What is the matter Harry Potter sir? Master looks very upset today. Is there anything that Dobby can do to help Master Harry?" asked Dobby.

"Dobby, can you please tell Daphne to come here quickly? And tell her only if she is alone" said Harry.

"Okay Master Harry Potter sir" said Dobby before vanishing.

After a few minutes, Daphne came rushing to the room. She had contacted Sirius too and he too would come in a few minutes. After some time, a black Dog entered the room along with Daphne. The Dog soon morphed into a worried Sirius Black who was looking at his godson in concern.

"What is the matter pup? Why are you so upset?" asked Sirius.

Harry didn't respond. He couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

Daphne went close to Harry and lifted his chin softly and looked at him.

"What is the matter Harry? Dobby mentioned that you looked very upset. Please tell me what is bothering you Harry. I will do my best to help you" said Daphne softly.

"Did any girl reject you Harry when you proposed her?" asked Sirius grinning.

Daphne felt a spark of irritation and jealousy on hearing that. But she controlled herself.

"Harry, is that the reason?" asked Daphne.

Harry shook his head.

"Then please tell me what is it Harry. Until and unless you confide to us, how can we help you Harry. You are making us really worried" said Daphne gazing compassionately at him.

Harry finally looked up.

"Dumbledore just summoned me to his office" started Harry listlessly, when Sirius interrupted.

"Did that bastard hurt you in any way? I will kill him" shouted Sirius, but Daphne interrupted him.

"Calm down Padfoot. Let us hear what Harry has to say before making any snap judgements" said Daphne firmly before turning to Harry.

"Okay Harry, what did Dumbledore want?" asked Daphne.

Harry took a breath before replying "He asked me if I knew anything about Snape's whereabouts. He couldn't find anything from my mind because I showed him only those memories which he needed to see. So, he concluded that Snape must have been killed by Voldemort" said Harry.

"But that is a good thing, right? Though I am not happy about the fact that he leglimencied you without your permission" said Sirius.

Harry help up a hand before putting the bomb shell "That's when he revealed to me that I was one of Voldemort's horcruxes, that I have to eventually die at Voldemort's hands so that Voldemort could be destroyed" said Harry tonelessly.

Stunned silence followed his proclamation.

"No Pup, he must be lying. He is trying to manipulate you. Don't believe a word of what he says" said Sirius sternly.

"No Sirius, I think he is true now. Because, from where else would I get this parseltongue ability and his visions & emotions. He said that it is impossible to destroy the horcrux without destroying the container. It seems that I have got no choice. I will have to die" said Harry, tears coming out from his eyes.

Daphne couldn't take it anymore and hugged him fiercely.

"No Harry, I will never allow you to die. I will search the entire earth to find out a way to remove that horcrux from you without destroying you. Dumbledore thinks he knows everything but he doesn't Harry. He is not an omnipotent God, but just a flawed human being with too many mistakes. Harry, you are the only true friend that I had till now in my life and I will do anything for you. I love you Harry, I love you. I will not allow anything to happen to you" said Daphne, her eyes flowing with tears as well as she hugged Harry tightly, who hugged her back.

Far far away, Voldemort was feeling a headache as he felt foreign emotions clouding him. He called for Severus but nobody responded.

Sirius didn't interrupt them but allowed them to have this moment. He thought furiously about this. This explained so many of Dumbledore's actions for the past many years. He was setting Harry to die at the right moment.

When Harry and Daphne parted apart, Sirius said "Harry, you are forgetting that I am a member of one of the darkest houses in Britain. So, there might be plenty of books on horcruxes in the Black manor, which Dumbledore doesn't know about. Dumbledore might be a powerful and knowledgeable wizard, but he is not at all experienced in the arena of Dark magic and Horcruxes are the one of the darkest of all the dark magics. And if at all I don't get any information, I will go to Egypt to find out more information about how to remove Horcruxes" explained Sirius.

"Egypt? Why Egypt?" asked Harry confused.

"Because Harry, Egypt is the place where horcruxes are said to have been originated. So, if there is a place where we can get information on how to destroy a horcrux without destroying the container, it will be Egypt. So, don't lose hope Harry. We will live a long life with so many kids, devoid of any dark lords or white bearded manipulators. I am with you, Sirius is with you, Kingsley is with you and you have Dobby too. None of us will ever leave you away or betray you. You can trust us, just as I trust both of you completely with my life" said Daphne tearfully.

Hearing Daphne's and Sirius's encouraging words brought out a spark of hope within him. Yes, he will not die. He will finish off Voldemort and his deatheaters, and then lead a long and happy life.

A grim determination came over Harry's face and he said "Let's begin the next phase of our plan".

Daphne and Sirius smiled.

"That's the spirit Harry", they chorused.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Until next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note****: This is the ninth chapter. Hope everyone likes it. And I apologize if I have hurt the sentiments of anybody through this story. **

The Next day, Daphne came to the Room of Requirement to meet Harry. But as soon as she entered the room, she saw that the whole room had been decorated beautifully with balloons and ribbons, and the room had been transformed into a beautiful scenic beach setting. She wondered why did Harry did all of that.

Then, she heard melodious music coming from nearby. When she went further ahead, she heard Harry's voice;

"Daphne, this is for you"

Daphne was curious about what Harry had in store for her. Then, she heard the beautiful melodious tunes of a wizarding guitar

"_When I see you,_

_your beauty makes me smile_

_your eyes are a sight_

_that lights up my life"_

"_Your smile is so bright, just like sun-shine,_

_That makes me to hope that one day you will be mine,_

_I can't ever think of a life without you,_

_My love for you will forever remain true"_

"_When will I get the opportunity to delight you as much as I like"_

"_When I see you,_

_your beauty makes me smile,_

_Your eyes are a sight,_

_That lights up my life"_

"_Your face is so beautiful, just like the moon,_

_Your sweetness and elegance just makes me swoon,_

_Your kindness and mercy has lit up my fire,_

_To serve you eternally is my desire"_

"_When will I get the opportunity to delight you as much as I like"_

"_When I see you, _

_your beauty makes me smile,_

_Your eyes are a sight, _

_That lights up my life"_

At the end of this song, Harry removed his disillusionment charm and appeared before Daphne smiling at her.

Daphne was shedding tears of joy. She was immensely moved by Harry's words which were addressed to her through the song.

"Daphne, it has been at least 4 months since we have met each other. And these 4 months have been the best months of my life. I lost my parents at the age of one, spent the next 10 years of my life with my muggle relatives who tried to beat the magic out of me, spent the next 6 years of my life battling Quirrelmort, Basilisk, Dementors, Dragons, Deatheaters and Riddle. Throughout this time, I never had really anyone who understood me. Sure Ron and Hermione are my good friends, but they have never gone through all the sufferings that I did and never really understood me quite well"

Harry took a deep breath before replying.

"But Daphne, ever since I met you, my life has taken a big U-turn. You have gone through more suffering than I ever did, yet you are so kind and compassionate. You have never nagged me, nor ever insulted me for being a brash Gryffindor even though you are a Slytherin, you have allowed me to vent my feelings whenever I was frustrated. Neither have you ever demeaned me, nor snubbed me. I have never been to Church in my life because the Dursleys never took a supposedly evil freak like me there. But I wish to thank God from the bottom of my heart now because you are the best gift that God has given me apart from dear mom & dad, my dear godfather, Dobby and my friends.

I wish to spend my whole life with you, share your sorrows and joys, highs and lows, ups and downs, and be constantly by your side even if the whole world is against you" said Harry emotionally.

Then, he bent down, picked up a ring from his pocket and raised it to Daphne.

"Daphne, will you marry me?" asked Harry.

Daphne's face was inscrutable. Harry was feeling immensely nervous. Did he do something wrong? She seemed to be measuring him as she looked at him intently with a frown.

Suddenly, she too lowered herself so that her eyes were level with Harry.

"Harry, you have been the only light in my life apart from my aunt Zarina whom I have not met since many years. So, why would I refuse to spend my whole life with anyone other than you Harry? You are my knight in a shining armour who rescued me from being molested by those deatheaters. Since then, You have always had special place in my heart Harry. I am not just willing to spend a life but many lifetimes with you, share your joys and sorrows, have more children with you than the Weasleys, roam around the world with you and finally die peacefully in your arms. There is nobody here who can replace you from my heart Harry" said Daphne smiling warmly at him, before she put the ring on her finger and hugged him fiercely.

Harry was over the moon and had a shit-eating grin on his face which was mirrored by Daphne as they held each other.

Suddenly, claps could be heard as 4 people materialized into view: Sirius, Kingsley, Dobby and a middle aged lady who had a happy smile on her smile.

"Aunt Zarina" exclaimed Daphne happily before she went and hugged the lady who hugged her back.

"Ooh my little baby has grown up to be such a beautiful witch" said Zarina fondly

"But where were you all these years?" asked Daphne petulantly.

"Daph, your parents and I had a big disagreement. I never supported their blood purity drivel and was vocally against it. One day, I heard that they were planning to kill and silence me permanently so as to permanently get rid of a blood traitor, because they felt that I was a bad influence on you and that I was corrupting you. I had intended to take you away from those murdering scum, but they had hidden you somewhere so that I could never find you. Before their paid assassins could kill me, I ran away to France. Sirius found me a few days back. I knew him very well from my childhood. I interacted with him in many of the parties organized by the purebloods. I knew how screwed up the british ministry was and never believed him to be capable of betraying the potters or murdering those muggles. He brought me here yesterday" explained Zarina.

"Oh thank you padfoot" said Daphne as she hugged him.

"You're welcome Daphne. Please keep him happy. He had a terrible childhood and I still feel guilty for not being there for him. I have seen your love for him in your eyes and I know that you will always keep him motivated. You have my blessings" said Sirius emotionally.

Meanwhile, Zarina went to Harry and stared at him with a "Resting Bitch Face" expression. Harry was nervous.

"Take care of my niece Potter or else I will skin you alive. You don't know how many boys I have castrated at Hogwarts for daring to get under my pants" growled Zarina.

Harry gulped nervously and said "Yes ma'am"

Suddenly, she couldn't control herself and broke off into loud laughter startling Harry.

"Don't worry young man, I was just kidding. I knew your parents quite well. They were very nice people. Sirius has told me so much about you and I believe him. I am very confident that you will take very good care of my daughter. I feel quite guilty for never being there for her when she needed me the most. I know that you are the only one who can fill that gap in her heart. You have my blessings" said Zarina as she hugged Harry who returned the hug back.

Meanwhile Kingsley and Dobby came and congratulated Harry and Daphne.

Dobby was over the moon howling with joy about how happy he was that the great master Harry Potter was getting engaged to his wonderful Greenie.

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Albus Dumbledore expected Harry to be subdued and brooding ever since he revealed that shocking fact to Harry. That is why, he was stunned when Harry entered the great hall with a big smile on his face as if he had no worries in the world. Even his friends seemed to be unsettled by Harry's unusually good mood. Perhaps he had asked somebody to cast a cheering charm at him.

Now, he was pondering something deeply. He had lost his spy Severus. Now, there was no one to spy on Voldemort and report to him. He needed somebody else to fill that role. That person would have to murder him to completely secure the loyalty of Voldemort since he was already dying. But whom should he choose?

Suddenly, he looked at the Slytherin table and started measuring each one of them. He ruled out Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. Suddenly he saw Miss Daphne Greengrass entering the hall. She too had an unusually happy smile on her face, when most of the time, she assumed a "Resting Bitch Face" expression.

Yes, Daphne Greengrass would be the perfect option to fill that role, thought Dumbledore. She was the topper in her batch . The girl appeared to have advanced occlumency shields just like Severus since she always looked so calm and collected. That could be considered as a good spy material.

**Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Until next time. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and I don't intend to earn any monetary profit out of it.**

Harry looked intently at everyone assembled in the Room of Requirement, as he waited for everyone to arrive. He had planned to restart the DA again, since after the death of Snape, Dumbledore had found it difficult to find a DADA teacher. Because of the curse on that position, Harry guessed that no one was willing to accept it. That is why, defence periods were free for them.

Everyone were whispering excitedly with one another. There were new faces in the crowd who were eagerly waiting in anticipation for Harry to start. Most of them had heard that everyone who attended DA meetings last year achieved at least Exceeds Expectations in their OWLs.

Finally, after 5 minutes of waiting, Harry went to the stage and whistled. Instantly, everyone became quiet.

"All right, listen everyone. I am glad that all of you arrived today. As to why I have called you, I am intending to restart DA. However, before we begin our sessions, I want each one of you to sign a magically binding contract with certain terms and conditions. Have a look at it, if you prefer" said Harry passing over the contract to the people.

The students looked at the terms and conditions of the contract before passing it over. The terms were fairly straightforward. That they shouldn't use whatever they have learnt to support the deatheaters in any way, that they shouldn't practice some of the dangerous and darker spells capriciously and carelessly, that they must not reveal to the non DA members whatever they are practicing in these sessions and so on. A few people left after reading the terms of the contract.

At that moment, Daphne entered the Room followed by a few Slytherins, most of whom were first and second years. Harry gave a warm smile at Daphne, which she returned. Then, Harry smiled reassuringly at the younger students who had arrived with Daphne. They were looking star struck at the chosen one and very surprised that Harry Potter was smiling at them. A 12 year old Slytherin girl with curly brown hair looked down shyly.

Meanwhile, the rest of the students looked shocked at the fact that Slytherins wanted to join the DA. A few looked very angry and mutinous.

"All right then, I have given a sheet containing the terms and conditions of the contract among the students assembled here. Please have a look at them" said Harry warmly to them.

"What the hell is this Potter? You are inviting the snakes also to this club!" exclaimed Ernie Macmillan angrily.

"Yes, these deatheater wannabes have no place here" shouted someone else, a Ravenclaw whose name Harry didn't remember.

After that some more people shouted and expressed mutiny over the presence of the Slytherins here until Harry raised his wand and let out a huge bang which silenced everyone.

"Stop it everyone. This club is meant for everyone who wishes to defend themselves or fight against the deatheaters. And, I will not exclude anyone who wants to join this club for that purpose. Moreever, the terms and conditions in the contract will prevent anyone from doing any serious harm. So, no more excuses. Slytherins are also allowed" said Harry firmly.

"But they are cunning snakes. They will find a loophole in the contract some way or the other and help the deatheaters" said Seamus, and a few people nodded.

Harry looked at Seamus angrily and remarked "Oh yeah Seamus, then you yourself look closely into it and give me the list of all the loopholes if you think you are so smart…" Suddenly, a hand was placed on Harry's shoulder and Daphne shook her head at him, urging him to let her speak.

"There is something which I have to clearly say to everyone. I am a Slytherin and I am neither a deatheater, nor a death eater sympathizer. I have no mention of joining that mad tosser who calls himself 'Voldemort'" Many people flinched on hearing Voldemort's name. Ignoring the flinches, Daphne continued "His deatheaters are nothing but a bunch of murdering, sick, disgusting human beings. Also, I don't care about anyone's blood. I have no problem with muggleborns, muggles and anyone who befriends muggles and muggleborns" said Daphne clearly.

"You are simply lying" someone in the audience said. Harry grew furious on hearing this, but Daphne looked him in the eye and mentally pleaded not to curse that person.

Then, turning to that person, Daphne replied "All right, if you think so, I am willing to give an unbreakable Vow right now to clear all your doubts". Many people who knew about the Unbreakable Vow gasped on hearing it.

Suddenly, the younger students from Sytherin started coming forward and shouted.

"Me too"

"I will also give the unbreakable Vow"

Harry finally had enough. "None of you will have to give the Unbreakable Vow" said Harry firmly before turning to the crowd.

"I find it extremely shameful that we are still argue over silly things like house rivalries when a war is going on outside. The Sorting hat says every year to give up our rivalries and work together. But we don't heed its warnings. And, Voldemort takes full advantage of that fact. It is high time that we don't give that advantage to Voldemort" said Harry.

Then, Harry put his hands on Daphne's shoulder and said "Daphne here is a Slytherin and she is the most amazing woman I have met in my life. In fact, she is my girl friend now and I have already proposed to her" said Harry looking at her fondly.

Daphne smiled brightly at Harry as she said "And I have accepted it" before kissing him soundly.

Majority of the people had gobsmacked looks on their faces. Some of the girls were giving Daphne a look of pure loathing and jealousy, while the boys looked at Harry as if he had lost his sanity. But Luna wolf-whistled and clapped in happiness.

"She is perfect for Harry. I see very few wrackspurts in her head" commented Luna in a dreamy voice.

They parted from the kiss, and Harry had a shit-eating grin on his face which was mirrored by Daphne.

"Anyway, what I was saying is that, if you can't trust Daphne and her judgement, then you don't trust me. If you cannot accept her and her friends, then I won't be taking anymore DA sessions. So, what do you say?" asked Harry.

Most of the students still didn't trust Daphne or the Slytherins and they thought Harry to be really nuts for dating a Slytherin. But even though Harry might be nuts, he was a good teacher, as evident by last year. So, they gave murmurs of wanting Harry to teach and reluctantly agreed to the presence of Slytherins in this club, before going on to sign the contract.

After the contract was signed by everybody, Harry addressed everyone.

"So, our first business is to rename the club. I prefer it to be Hogwarts Army, in short, HA" said Harry.

"What is wrong with Dumbledore's army?" asked Hermione, and many Gryffindors nodded.

"What is wrong is the fact that this club is meant for preparing the Hogwarts students against the threat of Deatheaters. It is not a fanclub of Albus Dumbledore. We are not Dumbledore's cheerleaders or worshippers. You don't have to be a devotee of Albus Dumbledore to gain entry into this club" said Harry firmly.

Some Slytherins and Ravenclaws gave a visible sigh of relief while the Gryffindors looked mutinous.

"But you are Dumbledore's favourite Golden Boy. Everyone knows that" shouted Zacharius Smith.

Harry frowned at Smith before replying "I am no body's golden boy or puppet. Don't make an ass out of yourself by making incorrect assumptions based on unfounded rumors about me. Rumors are started by haters, spread by fools and accepted by idiots. So, please don't believe all the nonsense rumors that may have been circulated in the daily prophet about me. And also, don't believe in all the crap and slander spread by the Voldemort's supporters".

Many people flinched on hearing the name "Voldemort".

Harry sighed before saying "Our second business is very simple. I won't be starting anything until all of you start saying the name 'Voldemort'. We are not cowards who are afraid of that Dark Tosser. Stop flinching everytime his name is mentioned. Don't call him 'You Know Who' or 'He Who Must Not be Named' or any such nonsense, and never ever address him as the 'Dark Lord' in my presence. He is not a Lord, he is a murderer and a hypocrite who has killed many innocent people. Don't ever give him respect by calling him as the Dark Lord. If you find saying Voldemort uncomfortable, then call him 'Tom' or 'Riddle'" explained Harry.

"Why 'Tom' or 'Riddle'?" asked Hannah Abbott curiously.

In response, Harry wrote the letters 'TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE' in the air and just flicked it.

The letters immediately rearranged themselves to 'I AM LORD VOLDEMORT'. Students gasped on seeing this.

"Yes friends, this so called 'Voldemort' is none other than a Slytherin student, Tom Marvolo Riddle, who attended Hogwarts as a Slytherin student in the 1940s. He was the one who opened the chamber of secrets and framed our dear Hagrid for that crime. He is just the bastard son of an unholy union between a muggle 'Tom Riddle Senior' and a squib 'Merope Gaunt'. This Merope fed love potions to Voldemort's father and made the man act against his will and run away with her. After conceiving Tom, when Merope forgot to feed the muggle one day, the muggle ran away. Merope, who was already weak and on the verge of death, admitted her child into an Orphanage.

So, our dear Voldemort spent his childhood in an orphanage where he was bullied by the other children for being an abnormal freak, just like I was. So, he developed a hatred for all muggles, and started controlling his magic from a younger age itself. He consciously used magic to steal things from the orphanage kids and terrorize those who bullied him. When he came to Hogwarts and was sorted to Slytherin house, he was scorned at and bullied again by the older Slytherins for not being a pureblood until he revealed his parseltoungue ability after which they started worshipping him. So you see, he is just a whiny immature idiot with daddy issues. I mean, he failed to kill a 1 year old boy 16 years back" said Harry smirking.

Many people in the room were spellbound on hearing this tale.

Then, Harry turned to Luna and said to her seriously "Luna, if possible, can you note down everything that I said and have it printed in the Quibbler Magazine. The foolish pureblood fanatics who support Voldemort must surely know the truth about their dear leader. This news could possibly cut down Voldemort's support base and drastically reduce his recruiting. Don't worry, I will take steps to ensure that you and your dad will be safe from the threat of Voldemort and his deatheaters"

Luna nodded and replied "I will do that Harry. The ragiekrals all around this room are telling me that you are finally becoming a no-nonsense leader. They told me to listen to your instructions"

Harry nodded at Luna before looking at everyone in the room.

"So, is everything what I have mentioned till now acceptable to all?" asked Harry.

The students murmured and gave nods.

"Tut, tut. That won't do. You should have a lot of spirit and enthusiasm. Give me a firm and confident reply when I ask you a question. So, is what I have mentioned till now acceptable?" asked Harry.

"Yes Potter" said the crowd.

"I can't hear you" said Harry.

"Yes Potter" said the crowd a bit more loudly.

"I still can't hear you" said Harry in a disappointed voice.

"YES POTTER" shouted the students.

"Yes, that's the spirit, my friends. Now, today we will practice the Patronus charm. This was the charm that we had been trying to practice last year before Umbitch caught hold of us. This is very very important because the dementors are completely on Voldemort's side now and they are causing a lot of havoc in the muggle world" said Harry.

Then, both Harry and Daphne looked at each other fondly and then loudly shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM" together. A bright Stag and a bright Tigress erupted from their wands and they nuzzled each other. The students were looking at the Stag and the Tigress with fascinated expressions.

"Now, a Patronus is something which doesn't require any specific wand movements. It is an intent based spell and it is powered by your emotions. Before casting it, you should think of the happiest moment in your life, that moment which brings a smile to your face, that moment which you would cherish forever. Now give it a try" said Harry .

"And, it need not be just a past Happy memory. You can also focus on anything or anyone who fills your hear with love, that could be your parents, your boyfriend or fiancé, or even your pet. You can even remember the feeling of the first kiss that your partner gave you and the feeling of wonder and happiness that you felt just then" said Daphne winking at Harry who winked back.

Daphne's explanation made the whole thing easier to understand, especially for the ones who were in a relationship now. Slowly, mists started coming from their wands.

Harry and Daphne continued to encourage the students by personally going to them; Daphne to her Slytherins and Harry to the other students, and gave them tips on how to do it. Finally, at least 8 students in the room managed to cast a corporeal patronus, which included Hermione, Susan, Goldstein, Boot, Luna and three Slytherins, and many others managed to form mists.

"That's an excellent performance, my friends. To those who have not yet succeeded, keep on practicing this in your free time and you will get the hang of it. Now, we will meet next week at the same day and same time. Have a good day. Bye" said Harry dismissing them.

Many people in the room thanked Harry before leaving. And some of them even apologized to Daphne and congratulated both of them for their relationship.

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The next day's Quibbbler article threw the whole Wizarding Britain into a frenzy. It shocked everyone to know that You Know Who, the champion of the pureblood supremacy movement was actually the bastard son of a squib and a muggle. At Hogwarts also, this article became a huge sensation and everybody were talking about this.

That evening, when Harry was having dinner, Professor McGonagall came to him and told him curtly that his presence was requested in the headmaster's office soon. Harry went to Dumbledore's office and was pleasantly surprised when he saw that Daphne was there too.

"Slughorn told me that Dumbledore asked me to come to his office" explained Daphne.

"Please sit down, both of you" said Dumbledore. The twinkle in his eyes was noticeably absent as he stared at Harry.

"Harry, I must say that I am very disappointed with you for telling the whole world about Voldemort's past. I specifically told you not to reveal whatever I was telling you about Voldemort's history. Tom will get angry and kill many people just because of this article" said Dumbledore sadly.

"That he is doing anyway Sir. But after this article, at least a few pureblood bigots would be hesitant to join that hypocritical maniac. And also, some of the loyal, rabid deatheaters who follow him will lose some respect for their master. In every way, it is an advantage for you. And as you always say, It is for the greater good" said Harry throwing Dumbledore's words back at him.

Dumbledore sighed in frustration. Harry was becoming more stubborn now and he didn't know what to do.

"Miss Greengrass, I am very disappointed with the choices that you have made, though it is not your fault. Now that I have lost Severus, I desperately need a spy for the order and I considered you for that role. But I came to know that you and Harry are in a relationship with each other. So, you can't fill that role" said Dumbledore sighing sadly.

"I wouldn't have done that anyway Sir. I had to run away from deatheaters because I refused to do disgusting things and accept that mark" said Daphne.

"Miss Greengrass, what I am about to tell you may shock you immensely. And I require an unbreakable vow from you that you won't tell anyone else about it" said Dumbledore looking intently at Daphne who didn't back down from the old man's stare.

"Sir, Daphne will not give any vow to you. If you are talking about the horcrux in my scar, she knows about that. I told her" said Harry firmly

"Harry, what have you done?" asked Dumbledore aghast.

"I did the right thing Sir. I trust her implicitly and I don't need any vow from her" said Harry.

"Yes Sir, Harry is right. I would sooner die rather than betray him. And, I will search every nook and corner of the earth to find out a damn way to destroy the horcrux in Harry's scar without having him killed" said Daphne vehemently.

"I am afraid that is not possible Miss Greengrass. I did search out for a way to remove Harry's scar without killing him. But nowhere did I find a way to do that without killing Harry. So, there is no other way than Harry sacrificing himself" said Dumbledore regretfully.

"So, you have basically been raising Harry as a martyr, right? That is why, you put him at the Dursleys for the first 10 years of his life and allowed him to be cruelly tortured and abused by the Dursleys. You knew very well that Sirius was the secret keeper of Harry's parents and that Pettigrew was the traitor. Yet you played your disgusting mind games and allowed Sirius to be sent to Azkaban, so that he wouldn't pose a threat to your plans, right? Harry has faced trouble and danger at the end of every year at Hogwarts and yet you allowed him to experience all the danger and trouble as a part of making him a sacrificial lamb, right? You disgust me Dumbledore" said Daphne sneering at the headmaster who was shocked by her comments.

"How did you know?" whispered Dumbledore who could hardly believe that this girl somehow came to know of his deception regarding Sirius.

"We came to know of this a while back. Anyway, Sirius told us about your deception." said Harry enjoying the look on Dumbledore's face. It was a rare sight to see Dumbledore getting shocked or bewildered when usually it was the headmaster who loved to surprise others.

"Sirius told you recently?" asked Dumbledore, as his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

In response, Harry took out his mirror and whispered "Padfoot".

Sirius's face immediately came into view.

"What's up Harry? Is everything all right?" asked Sirius in a worried tone.

"Everything's fine Sirius. Say Hi to Dumbledore. You will enjoy the look on his face" said Harry as he turned the mirror so that Sirius was facing Dumbledore.

"Hi Dumbles, missed me?" asked Sirius grinning at the gobsmacked headmaster.

"Sirius? You're alive? But…how?"whispered Dumbledore.

"Yes I am alive old man, and that's because I faked my own death when I found out at Gringotts that you knew very well about me being the Secret keeper. You betrayed me Dumbledore. I used to look up to you and respect you. And yet, you sacrificed me as a pawn in your own chess game and now you plan to sacrifice Harry too. I will not allow that to happen" said Sirius snarling menancingly.

"You have to understand Sirius, I did it for the greater good. Had Harry been raised by you, he wouldn't have been that meek and humble person who was willing to sacrifice himself for others. And that quality of Harry is very vital for defeating Voldemort. Harry had to learn to sacrifice himself for the sake of his precious loved ones and for that, he needed to be raised in a home where he was not loved" said Dumbledore with a straight face.

There was a shocked silence before Daphne marched ahead and slapped Dumbledore hard on his face. The portraits all around who were listening in shocked silence till now gave yells of indignation, though Phineas was glad that Sirius was alive. Harry silenced them with a wave of his wand as he had done before when he had been blackmailing Dumbledore.

"YOU MANIPULATIVE BASTARD, HOW CAN YOU JUST CASUALLY TALK ABOUT PUTTING HARRY IN AN ABUSIVE HOME LIKE THAT. DON'T YOU HAVE ANY FEELINGS? IS EVERYONE JUST A PIECE TO YOU ON YOUR CHESSBOARD?" screamed Daphne.

Dumbledore looked at Daphne with a shocked expression. He was even more shocked when Fawkes gave a trill of approval and sat down on Daphne's shoulder.

"See even your phoenix agrees with me. I can see very well that your right hand has been cursed very badly by the dark withering curse. Why do you think that a light creature like your own phoenix refuses to heal your cursed hand when he was capable of even diffusing the basilisk venom infecting Harry during his second year? And basilisk venom is the most corrosive substance known to wizardkind, even more harmful than even the darkest of curses and poisons" said Daphne, while looking intently at Dumbledore who didn't know what to say.

"It is because what you claim to be doing for the greater good is a clearly dark and evil action which is not justifiable" explained Daphne to Dumbledore who felt a tiny bit of shame.

"But what can I do? The prophecy states that only Harry has the power to kill the Dark Lord and I don't see what is that power which the Dark Lord knows not. How can a 16 year old boy beat a Dark Lord with decades of experience? Other than Harry sacrificing himself after destroying the other horcruxes, I don't think it is possible that Voldemort could be defeated. Even I couldn't beat him in the few encounters which I had with him recently and that was when I didn't have to deal with this cursed hand. Now, there is no way that I can face him in this condition.

I am going to die in a few months anyway. My plan was to have Severus kill me to gain Voldemort's trust. But that is not possible now. I think we are doomed now. There is no more hope for us" said Dumbledore dejectedly.

Harry looked at Dumbledore before replying "You may believe that Dumbledore, but we have not given up hope. Sirius has already destroyed the locket horcrux and we will search out for the other ones and destroy them too. And after that, we will destroy the Dark wanker too and I will lead a happy and long life with Daphne by my side. Do you know your problem is? You keep too many things to yourself and believe that you are the only one who knows what is the best for all of us. While we may not be as magically powerful as you are, we are not stupid Dumbledore. We will do everything in our power to destroy Voldemort and his deatheaters. Stop making any more plans for me and just stay out of our way Dumbledore" said Harry sternly.

"Yes Dumbledore, stay out of our way. We will not tolerate any more manipulations" affirmed Sirius.

"Perhaps it would be a good time for you to think and reflect about the wrongs that you have committed. Try to see it from Harry's and Sirius's perspective and think about how much they could have suffered due to your actions. The fact that Fawkes chose you as his companion once obviously means that you were a great man once. After all, you defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. Phoenixes are good judges of character.

But it is wisely said that power corrupts a person. That is what happened to you Dumbledore. While looking at the entire forest, you forgot about the small trees. And there is the fact that you try to manage all the 3 positions of Headmaster, Chief Warlock and ICW British representative all at once, and you end up not being able to do your work efficiently. Perhaps you should think of delegating at least 2 of your positions to others" said Daphne wisely.

"Yes Professor. I too, like Sirius respected you a lot once upon a time. But you have lost my respect. You would have been a great ally to have in the war against Voldemort but due to your past track record, we will not be able to trust you anymore. We will be willing to work with you only if you gain the approval of Fawkes. That means, he should be able to cure you completely. But until that happens, just stay out of our way. As Daphne said, reflect on your past mistakes, rectify it and be a better, straight forward team player with no tinge of manipulative behavior. Have a good day Professor" said Harry before Harry and Daphne walked out of the room.

Fawkes watched sadly as Dumbledore shed tears of remorse and anguish.

**Author's Note: I have recently uploaded another story "Ronald Weasley Reloaded". Even if you don't like Ron, you might like the story. **


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